First, my confession. I started straight razor shaving 2.5 years ago, however, in a moment of poor judgment I decided to train using a replaceable blade razor. I got a real straight razor, through SRP, 1.5 years ago. My first shave was terrific, but things fell apart shortly thereafter. As my strop can attest, after only 2 or 3 shaves, my razor isn't worth using. Out of habit I have resorted to the replaceable razor.

I am hoping to reinvent my shaving self, and while I just ordered a paddle strop, I'm concerned that I need to get my razor honed to restore it properly. Is it possible that I did that much damage so quickly, or is it likely that I can get the sharpness back through good stropping.

I don't want to move on, but I need to shave regularly now and if I can't get this down relatively soon I'm not sure how long I can keep this dance up. Any thoughts or advice would be great.

Zack