Golden Nib 23mm synthetic knot

this sounds almost identical to how the Body Shop Synthetic performs. Soft tips, but stiff hairs, making it difficult to do anything other than "paint" the lather onto your face. which, if you have good lather, isn't always a bad thing.

I set this brush at 47mm loft.


It is soft. I'm convinced it is softer than anything natural could be. If you don't apply pressure, you won't even feel it on your skin.

It lathers as well as anything of it's size. It gives up the lather excellently too.

Is there a problem? Too much backbone.

The way this brush works is it has unnaturally soft tips but the fibers becomes progressive firmer as they move towards the base. This works very well in most respects, but it does make splaying the brush (for circular face lathering) require an unusual amount of pressure. When lathering, it's still extremely soft, I'd liken it to washing your face with a velvet or silk cloth. There's pressure, but really no abrasion, not even as much as silvertip badger.

If you want to face lather but don't want ANY of the scritchy feeling natural brushes give you, and a smallish 23mm knot (its size is closer to the 18mm badgers I've owned as it doesn't bloom at all), then this knot is for you. Functionally, it's excellent. I'm definitely keeping mine.


It gets a 2 for stiffness of tips, because the tips have about 1cm that offers almost no resistance, after that cm the fibers become much stiffer, giving the brush its backbone.

OK this is not technically a brush ,only a knot (23mm x 65mm )

I purchased this knot from Golden Nib about four months ago. The item arrived via US mail , 5 days after ordering and was in good condition. I used a modified VDH bore handle to set this knot into. After removing the boar knot and cleaning out the hole, I epoxied the GN knot into this handle.

My first impression of this synthetic was the bristles were stiff ,the ends were very soft -much softer than pure badger or boar hair. (probably not as soft as silvertip).

After using this brush for 4 months, I can say It lathers very well ( I use soaps and I always face lather)
The tips are more than soft enough for face lathering . It also (in strange way) provides feedback on the hydration of your lather - this brush will drag a little on your face if under hydrated. Dipping the brush tip in water remedies this.

The only thing negative to say is it doesn’t hold lather in the hair as well as non synthetic brushes . What I mean is some of the lather will get pushed through the bristles at the base near the handle. Not a big problem but needs to mentioned.

I like this brush a lot and can recommend it for people who want ( or need ) an alternative to natural brushes.