I want to be colour neutral and I've tried a few times (halfheartedly) but I always find something else to practice instead. I currently average 10 seconds on 3x3 and I solve on white and yellow. I agree that the best way to do it is to just focus on one colour at a time until you are comfortable. I will try it again soon so wish me luck!

For other puzzles I'm pretty much the same as you - colour neutral for 2x2, 5x5, 6x6 and 7x7, but white only for 4x4 (Yau method). I think everyone should be colour neutral on big cubes, especially 5x5 and 7x7 as the have fixed centers it's easier because you don't have to memorise your colour scheme.

Anyway, great blog!

Thanks Feliks for the great blog post once again! I am a white cross solver and I average sub-20, but I have only been cubing for 5 months. I have been trying to be a yellow cross solver at the same time, but I can't quite get the hang of it. However, my Friend who averages 40 seconds, is completely colour neutral. So I agree that beginners can be colour neutral really quick, but people that are sub-20 and below, it can be very hard. I don't think that being colour neutral helps you a lot, but it can certainty bring your times down by 1-2 seconds. For example, Mats Valk is a green/blue solver and he is still a world-class cuber. But this is because he is colour blind. Once again thank you Feliks for the wonderful advice and I will try to be colour neutral again!

Cheers Ben! Definitely agree with your comments. After getting comfortable with the colours, deciding which colour to choose is a whole different art. A part 2 colour neutrality blog post is definitely something that could be made.

Thanks Mikael - like I wrote in the blog, it's certainly not essential and for some people it's actually more trouble than it's worth to switch over. It shouldn't take you too long to figure out whether you're one of those people though :)

That's a great blog and hope that it will help me to become colour neutral. Thanks for the blog.

I want to be color neutral but I dont feel like it lol. My friend is always like "what side you solving?" (I solve on red btw) and ill just reply "red" and he sits there and laugh and says "Just become color neutral already..." and its just like that wont really effect my times right now, so I dont really care.

I just want  quick tip from a pro, should I become color neutral? (I just recently become sub-1 minute)

Hi Jordan, I feel that you should become color neutral as soon as possible, because me being sub-20, it's quite difficult to switch (although I'm almost there ;). For you to become color neutral shouldn't take too much effort and is quite beneficial later on. I sometimes get quite jealous of my friends who spend 2 days switching to color neutral simply because white cross isn't a habit for them.

I'm not a pro, but I feel as that you should switch to color neutral because it's easy for the moment and is highly beneficial later on

Feliks, do you subconsciously start on the easiest cross and don't even realize what color you are solving, or do you deliberately search for the best color out of them all during solves?

Also, would the opposite be hard for you? Solving always on the white cross for example, or would it be hard for you to start on white when another color is easier?

In addition, this blog has inspired me to become a white/yellow solver for now, I'm normally just a white cross solver, but I'm going to adapt to white and yellow since I have only started learning F2L recently

Hey Pablo - I think that might be part of a colour neutral part 2 blog, choosing your colour in inspection. Essentially I scan the cube and try to pick a side within a few seconds as opposed to completely planning each cross and deciding after that. Sometimes this means I don't choose the move-optimal cross. It would be interesting to know how often my crosses are move-optimal!

Solving always on white all the time would be annoying for me because it means giving up on a potentially easier start :p

Nice, amazing job on this website overall

You are putting lots of effort into this and I appreciate it

@Feliks Yeah, deciding which side to start from once you are colour neutral is something else to be learned. I guess it's just whichever colour looks good at first glance. You don't really want to be scanning every side trying to figure out the optimal move count during inspection. :P

The Part 2 blog sounds like a good idea!

Hi all,
I have switched 6 years ago from white/yellow to color neutral and it taken me 5 months to make it real.
For one month i have been solving on blue/green for next month I have been solving on red/orange and then 3 months for practicing and "consolidating".
After 5 month my avg of 100 is similar to this on white/yellow. I do not know if this is good practice but this is how i have done it.
I guess it was worth because after tat 5 months of training I have beaten my all PB's on all cubes(2x2 - 7x7).
Now when I am back after 5 years break from speedcubing I have re-learned all algs and CN is not a problem for me.
Sometimes I am struggling with colour patterns(i.e. wile doing cross on green i do not remember which colour is on the right side of red colour etc.) and i guess I will overcome this with time.
Anyway great advice. Keep it up!

@Tomasz Kartasiński yes ir right i have done the same it helps a lot

Hi Feliks. I'm colour neutral on 4x4 with yau method.  

Is it faster than only solve on one colour cross? 

I always think if I only solve on one colour cross I can do the first 3 cross edges(and maybe centers) faster.

Should I became to solving the white cross on 4x4? 

I averaged around 27 with white cross only. I switched to CN over the course of 2ish weeks. I practiced with each cross color for a couple days until I got comfortable with all of them. Then I started doing color neutral solves. It took me just a few days to get to my regular times. I think it was definitely worth it. CN solving is so much more fun.

IMO full CN is useful for CFOP. For Roux I am x2/y neutral and I think it's enough. 15 seconds of inspection isn't enough to take advantage of full CN. For ZZ I always do white top green front. I've heard y neutral might be good.

Hi commmunity,

I totally agree with Aaron. Now I'm a sub 25 solver and I really regret not being colour neutral. Now I plan to change that.

 In my school (I'm 14) lots of other students decided to start with speedcubing.

Thank you Feliks Zemdegs for your mouch EFFORT you put in this website here.

Here I have a direct question to all owners of the Gans 356 air UM:Would you recommend it?

Thank you for your answers.;-)

Hi everyone, I've learnt being Color neutral and my times are a few seconds behind my times solving the white or yellow cross. However, I have this problem that stops me from actually always being Colour neutral. The problem is when I find a good Color to start my cross that only takes a few moves, when I finish solving the cross, I forget which Color cross I solved so I have to do a cube rotation to check for the cross Color then look for F2L pieces, reducing my look ahead. When I start solving and start telling myself the Color I started with, I get distracted and can't look ahead properly. Can anyone give a suggestion to fix this problem? Thanks!

Oh and btw the Gan air um is definitely worth it! If price is not a problem you can go for it! I've had a few cubes in the mid range category but all didn't fit my style. I was very frustrated. I told myself that if I wanted to cube for quite some time I ought to get an excellent cube at a high price so I need not buy another cube anymore. I bought myself a Gan 356 air um and I have not regretted it! It is highly customisable and also magnetic so you do not need to worry about overshooting.

Thank you Bill

Bill ,

you can also take a look on the U-Layer the opposite colour is your cross colour.

No problem! I've tried your suggestion for a few minutes now and it really did the trick! Thanks Daniel!

I'm glad, that I could help you.

Happy Cubing!

Bill, I have recently purchased a GAN Air UM. I agree, it is the best cube I have used, and definitely worth the money.

hi

I'm solving on white cross, and is easier to me solve on for example blue cross than yellow cross (I don't know why)

I hope you can be cuber's friends.

I'm not color neutral and my solve times are about 1.5 minutes, but in trying to become color neutral it made me think a lot more about F2L, and I think it has been very beneficial just to improve my F2L.

If I want to become Color-Neutral and my current cross is white, should I try to avoid solving in white and focus on the other colors when solving slowly? Is it considered Color-Neutral if I solve in all colors, but white cross is the easiest to solve? Is it Color-Neutral when I inspect, choose my cross color, and know what the opposite color of the cross would be?

Great advice, I just became color neutral and sub 20 a week ago. I decided to learn it early on because I knew it would be harder to learn the faster you are. 

It is essential to be colour neutral on Pyraminx and Skewb also, right?

David - yes, pretty much. 

Cuberious - I guess one way of thinking about it is that you're truly 'colour neutral' if doing any different colour makes no difference to your times or the way you think during your solve. I'm not sure that's an accepted definition though.

but the fact is first u need to be good in one cross right?

Can you still be sub 8 with color neutrality ?

Can you still sub 8 with white cross?

Tien tran... there is a rather large amount of cubers who are sub 8 on just one color, but most who are sub 10 are dual/opposite color neutral like myself

haha, "tldr." who won't read this whole blog that FELIKS wrote?

i switched to being CN around the sub30 mark, and after i switched i looked back and thought only white cross solving was more boring than being CN, but thats just me ahah

maybe a fun game to play with your friends if you were becoming CN, would be to do the same scramble then you each pick the cross colour the other person needs to do (the worst one you can see aha) and then race. idk i've done it with my friends despite being CN and found it fun ahah

Is cross from the down face is important for speedcubing?Can't I do it with upperface?Now,I am having about 39 second average on my 9 months of cubing.

Aaditya Sikder  

The cross on the bottom face is for the ability to switch from finishing the cross to f2l without the hassle of doing a full 180 with the cube and also the ability to look ahead for the next f2l pair while finishing the cross makes it a must have for faster times and I would recommend starting to practice like so. - Hope this helps!

I am the person who switches from green/blue cross to CN, from 10/2015 up until now, and from 15 to 13 on average. 2 seconds at level sub 15 is not a huge progress, but I think I can do more, because I didn't practice much at that time. Personally I think I'm almost truly neutral now. I agree with Feliks that to switch you need to practice in a way that only using one color cross for a specific time, for example, solving with red cross for a week, then Orange on the next week, etc. It's not impossible if you are sub 15 or sub 10, it's just hard to take time to see how it's more effective and optimal. I will give full description about time I practiced to switch one day.

Website can have Chinese? Or the Chinese subtitles? Most fans are Chinese oh

Thanks Friend.

Nice

Quite a difficult thing to do...

I average around 9 seconds and i use only white cross. im thinking of switching to color neutral and seems very daunting. I'll do what seung hyuk nahm did and do 100 solves for each color a day, 600 in total. although i think i need to do 500 since im already used to one of the colors.

I have tried a few times but never fully switched. I feel that it would be really easy for me to switch because I am able to solve on non White-Yellow crosses and average almost as fast as i do on white-yellow crosses. I average about 11 seconds on white-yellow crosses, and about 14 seconds CN. I feel like I might start to make the switch but I'm not going to make it my main focus. 

I think it's a fair idea to pair the transition phase of switching to CN from single-cross with one or more other goals, such as learning some algorithims or improving your F2L efficiency and look-ahead tricks.  Really making the transition fully can take weeks or months, so I've planned to switch this summer so I can practice and also finally learn full OLL while doing so.

I'm a sub-20 solver and within a month after practicing CN I'm comfortable solving starting with any color.

I also did the advice of SpeedCubeReview to learn new things while practing being CN. Being cn is totally worth it.

Thank you FAZ for this blog.

I'm colour neutral when playing chess (poor joke, sorry). At my level, the advantages of colour neutrality aren't noticeable. I've only recently started work on solving the cross on the down face instead of on top. Likewise, just started trying to learn the basics of proper F2L. At the moment, I'm not sure I'd even recognise which cross would be easiest from any given scramble. I'm hopeful that my pattern recognition skill will develop...

I'm a sub9 cuber and I switched to CN 9 month after I started cubing, when I was averaging 20. I kind of did a 1 month schedule where I started practicing on 1 color, then the opposite, then the 2 at a time and so on until I could do all 6. However being truly CN took me almost a year, and I even though at some point about giving up and coming back to w/y :p

Still, my times after switching improved relatively faster (jumped from 20 to 16 at once, and 6 month later I was sub10), and now I think it's a huge benefit, not only to have a shorter cross but especially to look far ahead into the F2L stage and very often preserve pairs and make Xcrosses.  I'm quite used to pick quickly the cross color during inspection, so even tho sometimes it can be a little more stressing out in competition it doesn't really affect me.

Anyway thanks a lot for this blog, I find it very interesting even though I'm already CN, and I think it is going to help a lot of people. In a while I might do a (French) video on this topic and I will link to this blog for sure!

I spent about a week trying to be CN, and gave up. Constantly inserting f2l pairs into wrong slots and seeing my times go up and feeling like I wasn't making any progress was discouraging. But after reading this I feel inspired to try again. Thanks for taking the time to write this, Feliks

I solved on yellow cross for about a year and a half, wherein I learned the beginner's method, basic (intuitive) F2L, and 4-Look Last Layer.  I first figured it wouldn't hurt to try being bi-color neutral (solving white as well as yellow), but quickly realized that I found the idea of solving any cross to be much more satisfying.

jskyler (Joseph Skyler) posted a transition method where you can practice different cross colors (aside from your own) for a full month, solving on a single color for a few days before combining all the colors you've practiced... and repeating the process. After that month, I was able to comfortably solve any cross first, though I sometimes had trouble with recognizing F2L pairs and Last Layer patterns.  Within a couple more months, I became very comfortable with color-neutral solving, and now I indeed don't even think about what cross color I solve(d)! Once I have a scramble, I simply look for a good cross, find the best cross I can, and start planning an efficient cross/first F2L pair.

I believe that transitioning from yellow cross only to color neutrality was very successful for me due to a few factors:

• I attempted to switch very early-on.  I hadn't been cubing for very long, and I hadn't learned anything terribly advanced (let alone become very fast!).  I averaged on the higher spectrum of Sub-20, and was still Sub-20... though consistently a second or two behind when doing those solves on unfamiliar crosses.
• The method I used to switch was well-made.  For me, at least, jskyler's approach to switching made a lot of sense: don't solve your original cross color until the very last day of the transitional month, and learn the opposite color of your original cross last; spend between a few and several days solving on an unfamiliar cross color, and learn said cross colors in opposite pairs (in my case: solve red and orange, than green and blue, then finish with white); finally, spend occasional days doing solves using all of the cross colors you've learned so far, allowing you to practice the freedom of choosing between different crosses on a single scramble. And all of this in the time frame of a month? It seemed perfect for avid practice without forgetting what you learn.
• Most importantly, color neutrality is something that interests and benefits me.  This is not the case for everyone; solvers like Lucas Etter will probably always be better solving only one color of cross (and that's fine, in fact it's really good, because it's simply a choice of preference... when it all comes down to it, color neutrality is not necessarily good or bad, but rather differentiates people's solving styles even further!).  The idea was appealing, I looked up to Feliks, and I solved a lot each day to properly practice each cross color.  Motivation is key.

On the flip side of things, jskyler sort of insisted that his method for switching to become color neutral was essentially fool-proof, and that a transition to color neutrality was without a doubt not only possible for any cuber, but also worthwhile. This is obviously not true, as no one approach works for everyone. That being said, whether it is "worth it" to be color neutral or not is entirely up to the solver, as its pros and cons currently appear to be quite personal.  I am definitely of the opinion that color neutrality is more akin to a method: something that can be used, but doesn't have to be used, as alternative methods exist (in this case, single- and dual-color neutrality) that will be more beneficial to solvers.

Hey,Feliks.Are you good in maths?

i am sub-35 solver with the beginners method and stuck what to do next can anyone suggest and help me out

I'm think if you are a great solver with Xcross then it won't be really hard to learn CN

I found a interesting thread in a Chinese cube forum. It is also about the benefits and losses when one chooses multiple cross colour. It involves two colour neutral solvers: Lin Chen (7x7 and 3oh AsR) and Yiqun Fan (3x3 around 10 secs). The conclusion is interesting as it suggests another approach for those who do not want to choose colour neutrality -- double cross colours, such as white and yellow. This has a 0.5 moves disadvantage comparing to colour neutral, but the rate to successfully identify the least move cross between 2 colours is nearly 100%, while among 6 colours it decreases to 75%. Also, using two colours have more time for you to look forward for the upcoming 1st pair of cross, or do a x-cross.

I was deeply influenced by this discussion. Formerly I am a white cross solver, and I converted to white and yellow. But I only use a yellow where there is a big disadvantage in white comparing to yellow. It has similar efficiency comparing to colour neutrality and I think it is a method easier for a single colour solver to adopt.

how do you get this thread ? Peter Wu

Feliks, I remember watching one of your example solves videos on YouTube and noticed that you were using other colours besides just white and yellow.  At the time I had never given a thought to solving on other colours untill I saw you and others doing it.  I thought that it was pretty cool so I just started doing other colours and about a month later I could solve on all colours in about the same times.  To me it really does make a difference because of the way that CN cuts your cross times.  I feel like its not as important as learning other stuff but it certainly does help out alot.  

cool

• Now I am trying to change to CN, and I just find an interesting fact: besides white that I've been using, I can solve a cube using yellow cross no worse than before, but among the other 4 colors, I find it easy to use blue while green, red and orange seem rather difficult. That's confusing. I will continue giving it a try. Thanks for this blog, Feliks

I avg about 30-35 with CFOP, and I tried one solve on blue cross... That was the day I decided that I was never being color neutral.

SWITCH TO CFOP 

Kavin Malmarugan it takes some time but it will reduce your time alot

I'm a fairly new cuber. I started with the beginners method on white and continued for a few months. Then I decided to try CN. Over the space of a week I practiced on yellow then Orange as I found those edge pieces easier to find. I then added red blue and green. My times are around 50 so I'm not a "speed" cuber yet. Going CN has certainly increased my times but while practicing CN I have stopped timing myself while I learn how to find the pieces quicker. I do occasionally get the cross colour wrong on F2L and insert the wrong piece but I guess this will get better with time. 

I do find it hard sometimes picking the best colour. Sometimes the best one will jump out at you, other times I spend most of my inspection trying to work out the best colour and then just randomly choosing one (usually white or yellow!!!). I'm not seeing all the offsets yet though, i.e. setting the edges on an offset then finishing with a D or D2.

So as a beginner I haven't found it that hard to go CN although a small part of me gets excited when I see white as the best cross! Like Felix says, it's best to try it out when you're still a noob.

Hey Feliks, I had a question regarding magnetized speedcubes. I recently purchased a Gan Air UM and I instantly loved the magnets. I was wondering if you have noticed them weakening over time? Or if this is a problem I don't have to worry about. 

Thank you! Can't wait to see more records being broken. 

The only thing hard about this is that you are not used to seeing other colours in the position 

I started cubing later then a friend who I was rather competitive with at the time, and so in order to get an edge on him, I skipped learning beginners method and went straight to f2l for the first 2 layers, as well as being color neutral. It paid off, as now a year later, I average faster than him.

What about CN on bigger cubes like 4x4 and 5x5 or with Yau? 

For the question in your blog of how does someone become colour neutral, I can answer that. I started off as a white/yellow cross solver and I was actually inspired by you to become colour neutral roughly a year after I started cubing. It definitely was not the easiest thing to do and I don't remember exactly how I became colour neutral but I think it went along the lines of picking out the best cross colour for a scramble and just memorizing the cross piece positions in relation to each other. And if there were any cross colours that were harder for me to recognize, I simply just practice solving on that colour more often until I can start a solve on any side without issue.

I am a color neutral solver but i still encounter some cross cases that are difficult and sometimes i mess up my cross solution because of that. Does that also happen to you?

I average about 18-15 seconds.

what is TLDR?

What about being dual colour, like Mats?

Too long Didn't read

Feliks may i ask which megaminx speedcubers are colour neutral?

Yu Da-Hyun is the only one I know of

I average about 15 seconds on the green cross, which is my main because of the guide I originally learned how to solve it with. I'm getting used to the white cross. The white cross and f2l are my lacking points, as ll comes easier to me. My first solve on white, I had almost no problem with ll on white. (also btw I'm buying premium tonight!)

Hello Feliks! Now I average about 20s, and can I learn CN quickly? I want to practice it, but each time when I use yellow, green, red or blue cross, I averaged about 25s. Do you have any advices for me?

i am 40 years of age and solved my very first cube one week ago. it is quite hard for me to really get into this. thinking of CN does it make even harder and confusing. i will probably focus on F2L first and i`d be happy if i can get this! am i the only old noob here lol?

when you do get around to learning color neutrality, i suggest starting with yellow, then slowly branch out from there. it helped me. good luck on your cubing journey!

A really nice blog Feliks.

This is good for my solves and would be very useful for cubers on cubeskills.

Thanks

By the way I am one of your biggest fan and you are my speedcubing inspiration

I am almost sub-10 .Does it make sence to start learning CN?because I started it maybe 2-3months ago and my times really went bad and then I stopped it.

mind blown

yeet

good job mate me family would be proud

I am color neutral and average around 25 seconds it is so difficult to get quicker. Any tips.

Thanks if anyone does

no way you got sub 10 in 2 months!!

I've been solving almost a year and I'm not even sub 20 yet!

He didn't get sub-10 in 2-3 months, in that post he mentions being sub-10 and that he started practicing colour neutrality 2-3 months before that post.