Cro OX how necessary?

Okay so i'm kind of new but i've been getting a pretty comfortable shave with my ghetto equipment. After looking around i found a reference to using a peice of denim with colgate toothpaste in place of cro ox and a paddle strop. So i'm wondering can i keep using this or should i go ahead and get some cro ox? And i guess i'm wondering exactly how necessary is paste? Can i go straight from my yellow grey coticule to a clean canvas and then to leather? Maybe this is a question for the honing forum but i wasn't sure where to ask exactly.

It's not really necessary, but it will sharpen and some grow to like paste a lot.

0.5 or 0.3 CroOx should work better than Colgate. The CroOx is fairly inexpensive and a little goes a long way; well worth trying.

CrO is not necessary, a lot of people shave off a coticule and prefer it.

Don't use toothpaste. While it might work, being slightly abrasive, CrO costs very little and you can just buy it dry and mix it with baby oil to make a paste. Probably less expensive than toothpaste, in the long run.

Some of the mentors will tell you to forget the pastes and go from the hone to the strop and then shave.
I have come to embrace this philosophy for the most part however, when an edge is slightly worn, CrOx will
refresh the edge to some extent. Experience will guide you through this issue.

Keep reading the forum...............

I'm not a big fan of the CrOx. I prefer to go from the 8K or one of my finishing stones to the strop, and then to the shave. As has been mentioned, experience dictated this decision. I tried the CrOx for a while, using it for touchups, and it didn't agree with my face. So, back to the stones it was, and it was a very "smooth" transition!

Hope this helps a bit.

Everyone is a little different. I use a pasted paddle strop for touch ups and after honing with stones. This has worked extremly well for me.

Pabster

My latest hit song :)

YMMV...
What a wonderful phrase.

YMMV
Ain't no passing craze

YMMV
It means no answer, for the rest of yer days

It's our problem free, Philosophy, YMMV


Sung to the tune of Lion King's "Hakuna Matata" :) :)


Keep in mind that not only what paste you use, but what you use it on, and when and how you use it, all changes the outcome on the razors...

Now he's doing hit tunes too! Let us know if you need any roadies when you go on tour.

and he ain't lion either :p

thanks, that answers my question. i'll probably get some at some point in the near future but its nice to know that i don't have to absolutely have it.