Hi Phoenix
Thanks for replying. Here are comments for some of your points.
I tend to sleep hot, unfortunately, but I was definitely sleeping âhotterâ on the Blended Talalay then on 100% Natural Dunlop. All other room and bedding variables have remained the same from my original setup of latex topper on top of Sleep Number bed right through to the final arrangement of the all latex mattress. My past experience with a supposedly âcoolâ memory foam topper was definitely too hot for my comfort.
I forgot when I was writing my post that I was going to explain that the blended Talalay felt to me like it fell somewhere between memory foam and Dunlop latex in the âmushinessâ range. When I say âmushy,â I donât exactly mean âsoftâ (although that is part of it), rather I mean the squishy memory foam-like feeling which to me is âmush.â
Iâm not so sure that what I originally intended to purchase would have been softer than what I ended up ordering. Since Talalay is softer than Dunlop, Iâm thinking that 2" soft + 3" medium Talalay MAY have been softer than had I gotten the 2" soft blended Talalay + 3" soft Dunlop. But perhaps not. Perhaps a âsoft Dunlopâ lies somewhere between âsoft Talalayâ and âmedium Talalayâ in softness.
Yes, after the swap out I definitely ended up with a firmer mattress. I actually debated about possibly making a swap that would have resulted in my having only a 2" firm Dunlop on the bottom, 3" medium Dunlop in the middle, and 3" soft Dunlop on top. But at that point I knew I couldnât keep swapping things out affordably if it was still âtoo softâ overall, so I opted for the 3" firm - 3" medium - 2" soft because I figure if it turned out it was TOO hard, I could always add yet another softer layer on top of everything at a later date. In fact, I have a âdown alternativeâ topper that I have used on and off with my Sleep Number + Dunlop latex topper bed. I did try that on top of what I have now, but I once again felt like I was sinking into the bed too much when lying on my back with that and my back was really hurting. I since have removed the fake down topper and am back to a lesser level of back pain.
I knew the all latex mattress would be different than my latex topper on the airbed - I wanted something different. My hips REALLY hurt me when laying on my side on the Sleep Number, even with the latex topper (although the latex helped more than any other topper I had tried on the airbed, which is why I thought perhaps an all latex mattress would be ideal).
I can tell you that with regards to the hip pain while lying on my side, it is definitely a case of my hip not sinking in enough to provide good support for the recessed parts of my body. (But in answer to the other poster âpungoâ, no, I do not have particularly wide hips. If anything, I think they tend to be more narrow.) But if I were to go softer, as I had starting out, then it would throw my back out of whack in other ways. As I said in my previous post, I am the most comfortable on the mattress when lying on my back. So itâs a trade-off.
I canât remember exact details of my hip pain from the original squishier arrangements, but as best as I can recall at this point, my hip pain MIGHT have been less but my lower back pain was definitely worse.
Bottom line: what I really need is a new body!!
Yes, I already returned the original layers. I really didnât like the blended Talalay. If money wasnât an issue, I would rather have gone the route that âpangoâ did and gone for the organic mattress where natural Talalay was an option. I might have chosen to stick with the top layer being Talalay in that case. But who knows⌠I might not have like the natural Talalay any better than the blended Talalay.