To start off I will say that when I did my very first shave with my "real" straight several months ago, I was amazed at how smooth and comfortable the shave was. I will also add that irritation was no where in sight. However, lately it seems that I can't even get through a shave without irritation in some form either the same day or (as is more common) having razor bumps about 2 days later almost like clock work. When I first started out I initially used CrOx to get my razor "shave ready" and then stropped before each shave after that. Sometimes I hear of people getting about 5 or 6 shaves before they touch up a razor when they feel it pulling but I don't think I experienced that problem as it seemed to be shaveable for months. As I mentioned though throughout that time my irritation problem just kept getting worse and I doubt it's a technique issue. My real question here is: would doing 5 or 6 strokes on a finishing hone (like a Naniwa 12k) after about 5-10 shaves really do anything for my edge to combat irritation? It would seem that going to a hone rather than using a very high grit like CrOx would actually dull the blade more than help it. Would a few strokes on such a hone possibly reset an edge slightly that went south by stropping somehow? I'm not ruling out any possiblities but I do use very light pressure when stropping (and shaving!) so I doubt it's that I rolled my edge either, but who knows. I long for the day when I can consistently get awesome shaves with my straight that are comfortable and irritationless as I know it's possible but appears very elusive in my quest so far. Help a brother out!

Thanks guys!