100% Natural Latex vs. 100% Natural Botanical Latex ???

[phoenix]

Hi rvneedssleep,

I have emailed SleepEZ also, but they are slow to answer emails and I have just discovered some of the same confusing information on their site. Help!

Unless your questions are very simple and can be answered in a single sentence … a phone call will generally be a much more effective source of reliable guidance and information than an email (see post #4 here).

[quote]Here are some of the confusing/conflicting statements I received from Absolute Comfort:

• Our Talalay toppers are located on another web site! https://ultimatesleep.com/ …These toppers are all 100% botanical. …100% natural does not always mean 100% botanical.
• Talalay Global is the updated name for a very old company named Latex Intn’l. They are the only company that produces the true Talalay in single pour method. They also carry synthetic mixed with botanical, which is called blended. They are the only company making 100% botanical Talalay
• Latexco is also a latex manufacturer that makes the blended. But not as high a quality. (MY NOTE: I’m not sure if the person was referring to Talalay with this statement, or Dunlop.)
• Many companies, including ours, use the word “natural” because the product is no longer manufactured using petroleum based synthetic material, but instead uses other plant based synthetic materials.
  [/quote]

There is certainly some inaccurate information here. There are two companies that make Talalay latex that you will find in the western world (Talalay Global and Radium) and both of them make both 100% natural and blended Talalay latex. There is more about the different types and blends of latex in post #6 here.

“Botanical” just means that all the rubber in a latex formulation comes from the Hevea Brasiliensis tree so it has the same meaning as “natural”. Different companies use different terminology but this is normally about marketing and trying to differentiate their products from others that sell the same or a similar product.

Latex that only uses natural rubber (either using the Dunlop or Talalay method) and doesn’t contain any synthetic latex in the formulation is generally referred to as 100% natural latex although there are also some other “ingredients” that are used in the formulation to make it possible to turn the liquid rubber into a foamed latex layer so the actual rubber in the formulation isn’t 100% of the final product (see post #18 here).

Huh?! What is the actual difference between “100% Natural Latex” and “100% Natural Botanical Latex” if “100% natural does not always mean 100% botanical” and the word “natural” can be used to mean that it contains plant based “synthetics” vs. petroleum “synthetics”??? I thought I KNEW what 100% Natural Latex meant! If the two “names” mean the same thing, then why have both monikers for different toppers on the same site? And if the two “names” do NOT mean the same thing, then what on earth is the actual meaning of the two terms? And how am I supposed to REALLY know what any of the mattress toppers really are made of??

Again the difference between 100% natural and 100% botanical is just terminology although there could be differences between two products that are both 100% natural (or “100% botanical” if that’s what they choose to call it) if one is Talalay and one is Dunlop or if they are a different firmness level or use different formulations.

So, I had all but decided to drop my “brand loyalty” and start over with SleepEZ, when lo and behold today I find a sale mattress listed (Compare Latex Mattresses - Sleep EZ) that also uses these two conflicting and confusing descriptive terms for the same mattress: “Experience the Sleep EZ 100% natural latex mattress” & “Natural “Botanical” Pure Latex Mattress”!!!

They have “botanical” in quotes because it is the terminology that is used on other sites so that you can make more “apples to apples” comparisons.

As you probably know … SleepEZ is one of the members of this site which means that I think very highly of them and that I believe that they compete well with the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, knowledge, and transparency.

Phoenix