Hi dj, and welcome.
Slower stropping is still stropping, but without the carnage--don't worry about that. Yes, you are doing something to the razor. I just got a new strop a few weeks ago and it's almost as slick as glass--and it has an amazing effect on my blades. Keep your touch light--blade's weight only, and don't make any effort to push the edge into the leather. The spine will bear most of the force, since it's where the mass is concentrated, and the edge just follows. Appreciate that the edge is really a microscopic structure, and that the effects of final honing, of stropping--and of shaving for that matter--are also microscopic. If you've got access to dissecting scopes at school, take your razor in and have a look at it. Check it out after you've shaved with it and cleaned it up, but before you've stropped it again, and you can see the wear and tear it picks up. Then give it your regular preshave stropping and look at it again to see how much you did after all. It is a significant effect, and even if you don't have a look at it you'll feel the difference if you forget to do it.
What's your master's research?
Best wishes