Quote Originally Posted by mparker762 View Post
What pastes were they? There are a *lot* of pastes out there, which is probably the source of your confusion. Some pastes are simply leather conditioners, some are linen conditioners, some are highly abrasive and intended for sharpening a dull razor, some are mildly abrasive and intended for touching up a slightly dull razor, and some are incredibly fine and intended for getting a supersharp edge.

Edit: If what you have are the dovo yellow and white pastes, then the yellow paste is a leather conditioner, and the white is a linen conditioner. the white is also slightly abrasive, but it's extremely mild and intended for daily use (it's basically chalk mixed in some sort of conditioner).
the pastes I bought are the red-fine grain for touching up a slightly dull razor- and the other is white for the linen. I figured that I would strop on clean strop both sides before shaving and then when I noticed some dulling I would use a separate strop to use the pastes. after that I would hone the razor using the method that is on the classic shaving site. I think its called the zawada honing method. even it in the end calls for stropping on treated leather strop then stropping on a clean strop. figured I'd follow that, couldnt go wrong. ???