Looking for first synthetic

Take a look at the Supply Silvertip Synthetic shaving brush.  I'm not sure who makes it for Supply, but I find it to be soft on the tips and holds its shape well.  I think it is a 24mm knot and sells on their website for $39.00.

I am fairly new to DE shaving and only have a few brushes and no real high end ones. But after using a couple different synthetics for a few months I got a Rockwell 20mm from someone with a razor and it’s by far the best brush I have and I couldn’t ever imagine needing a better knot.

My only disappointment is the smaller handle. But I love the smaller knots like 20mm and wish they were more common on higher end brushes. The 26mm is huge and hard to lather in the soap bowl and wastes more soap overall.

I recently picked up some AP brushes, PAA brushes, and a Stirling, cheaper Omega, and a couple random unknowns in brush lots for cheap. I love the handles on the AP ones their normal $10 handle that comes in blue/clear and red/clear or black/clear but sadly it’s a 24mm knot and the knots don’t perform as well for me.

I’m not sure of the correct term but my problem with most of those brushes is when I press down on the soap the bristles all bend in the same direction instead of opening up in different directions to create better lather. Is that what splaying means? If so I love the splaying on the cheap Rockwell and would love to find a higher end synthetic that performed the same. I plan to test out the AP 5A,5B,5C eventually in hopes of finding that. But a 20mm knot would be amazing with a longer handle.

Lots of knockoffs of Rubberset 400 brush including a slim model from AP.  Older heritage brushes were thiner and some longer handeled.  Good luck.  

Windrose makes razor handles.