Permafrost is year-round frozen ground across large swaths of the Arctic. With global warming, permafrost is thawing, posing a threat to the built environment. The fastest thawing occurs in regions where thawed material is removed from the surface -- often through down-slope soil movements like landslides -- exposing fresh permafrost to warmer air. This processes can create a feedback loop: as thawed material is removed, deeper layers of permafrost are exposed and thaw, further accelerating permafrost degradation. Previous research has found that freezing and thawing reduce soil strength, making it more prone to movement. We hypothesize that this weakening effect makes it easier for soil to be removed from the surface of permafrost, contributing to ongoing thaw. However, previous experiments have not tested soil behavior under near-surface conditions, similar to those found in thawing permafrost. In this study, we performed experiments to simulate the behavior of freshly exposed permafrost after a single freeze-thaw cycle. We find that thawed soils are weaker than those we expose to freeze-thaw. This makes them more likely to be removed from permafrost quickly, further increasing thaw rates.