So I haven't spent much time with my straight edge razor yet, let's say I have about 15 shaves.
The reason I'm using the balsa is because I spent months without touching the razor, and I might have decreased the sharpness of the edge when I first got the blade due to poor technique. I have been using the balsa more often than I'm supposed to as practice and because the first few times I used the balsa the edge seemed to get progressively sharper over subsequent times. Given that I live in an undeveloped country and after searching I haven't found anyone experienced who could look at the blade and tell me everything is fine, I'm sort of learning on my own.

I have a question regarding stropping on balsa: when stropping on hanging leather, you are supposed to 'lead with the spine' which I interpret as 'apply more force to the spine than the edge'; I'm aware that the force should be minimal, that the edge should never touch the strop without the spine also touching it, and so on. Is the 'lead with the spine' rule valid also when using paste on balsa?

I'm asking because today I applied a bit more force on the edge than on the spine while stropping on the balsa (not on the hanging leather, I lead with the spine there) as a experiment, and the edge got sharper than I have been able to get it before.