How did you learn how to solve the cube?!

My dad brought me 3 storeboughts one day during my childhood days. We were both engrossed in finding a solution for the cube. After an hour, we knew how to do a layer but had no idea that a layer is a step in solving the cube. One night, Dad brought a laminated alg sheet. I finished the cube using that for the first time, but I forgot how to do the second layer. I didn't get the alg for the second layer so I made up my own after some experimenting. After that, I knew I was slow (barely sub-1), and wanted to get faster. And that's my story.

(the alg I found was: cross on bottom: F' R U R' U' R' F R. inverse to set-up.
 
on my own, My method was make an X switch sides, make an X switch sides, make an X switch sides. I did that until I got lucky and solved the cube like a 2x2. Then I manipulated the middle layer solving one side switching, solving another side switching, until the cube is solved! It wasn't that efficient though, it took me anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. After a while I went on the internet and found out how to solve it in under 5 minutes every time.
 
Figured it out myself. When I was trying to do the LL, someone said something about "doing it and not messing up what you've already done". I eventually found 'algorithms' that did this, but they're really long.
  1. White edges onto yellow (which is on U), then align them and do F2 to place them.
  2. z2, 3 U layer corners with R' D' R D.
  3. Keyhole F2L
  4. Take forever trying to do the last slot intuitively.
  5. z2. Use [L' R] F2 [L R'] to take an incorrectly oriented U edge into the D layer without affecting the U layer, and use D [L' R] F' [L R'] insert it into U correctly (still preserving the U layer). Then do U until another incorrectly oriented edge is in UF, then do reverse of algorithm - [R L'] F [R' L] D' [R L'] F2 [R' L] - to flip the second edge.
  6. Permute edges with a long, intuitive U perm: [L' R] F2 [L R'] takes the UF edge and places it in D. D' y' moves it to below another incorrectly permuted edge. [L' R] F2 [L R'] swaps them. D2 y2 moves the new edge in D to below another incorrectly permuted edge, and [L' R] F2 [L R'] swaps them. D' y' moves the new U layer edge below the starting position and [L' R] F2 [L R'] puts it into place.
  7. Orient one corner with R' D' R D (doesn't affect pieces in U layer). Then do U until an incorrectly oriented corner is in UFR, then do D' R' D R (inverse or R' D' R D) until the F2L is solved again. Repeat until all corners are oriented.
  8. Permute corners with an intuitive A perm: R' L' D2 L R swaps UFR and UBL, and R' U L' D2 L U' R' swaps UFR with UFL and solves F2L.
[SPOILER='Algorithms' used]
  • EO: L' R F2 L R' D L' R F' L R'; R L' F R' L D' R L' F2 R' L
  • EP: L' R F2 L R' D' y' L' R F2 L R' D2 y2 L' R F2 L R' D' y' L' R F2 L R'; L' R F2 L R' D y L' R F2 L R' D2 y2 L' R F2 L R' D y L' R F2 L R'
  • CO: R' D' R D; D' R' D R
  • CP: R' L' D2 L R R' U L' D2 L U' R
[/SPOILER]
 
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When I was living in Thailand in 2002 an Irish guy called Finbar turned up at my cabin looking for a place to stay. He had a cube, and taught me how to solve the first two layers using a LBL method and a single 'move' to insert F2L edges.

I got back to the UK a few months later, and looked up algs to permute, THEN orient the LL. I discovered what permutations the orienting algs did, and developed a few more. Back in those days, internet resources weren't what they are today!

I realised I had more freedom to work on F2L if I did this before cross edges, so I worked out a few more F2L-style cases for myself, kind of basic block-building.

Eventually, my method was this:

Pair F2L edges and corners and insert.
Cross edges
PLL on top (with some of what I guess would be EOLL?!)
OLL on top

TADA!!!

I re-discovered cubing (and discovered CFOP) in December, and can't even remember how to use the method I used 10 years ago!
 
learned f2l on my own. then looked up algorithims on rubiks .com for ll. my f2l method was solve 4 corners (without worrying about centres), solve the second layer edges using slice moves and moving sides out of the way so as not to disturb what i had alredy done, insert d edges.
 
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