Absolutely. An 8-9" mattress (or in come cases even less) would be fine for you unless there is a specific reason to go thicker because of a particular design that you preferred but it wouldn’t be “necessary” at all. Of course the trick is to put the “right” type of layers (in terms of thickness and ILD) inside the 8-9" that best suits your needs and preferences.
This is strictly personal preference. In an “apples to apples” comparison (the same layer thickness and ILD) the blend in lower ILD’s that are typical in softer comfort layers are likely to be more durable, more pressure relieving, and less costly than the "100% natural material. The all natural though is denser, a little more supportive (which would be more beneficial for a support layer) but primarily … more natural … which for some people is a tradeoff that is worth the higher price. There are lots of people that on principle alone will buy more natural materials regardless of any performance differences.
I would do some serious research on Green Mattress Factory, Dremata, Live for Tomorrow and some of the other names that are now defunct that they have used before considering a purchase from them. They certainly look nice but there is a history there that would make me VERY cautious. I would also read the links in post #6 here.
East Coast organic Mattresses carries some very high quality mattresses but they are also higher priced than other similar mattresses that use the same or similar materials.
Thank you very much! Also, at one point I think I had found an article on this site with a pros and cons of various online brands. I can’t seem to find it again, any ideas?
I haven’t written an article on the pros and cons of any brands but there are a few “pros and cons” articles in the articles section of the site (top menu) which talk about latex, memory foam, and airbeds.
I pay little attention to brand names because only the materials in a mattress and how they are put together is really important.
I do often give suggestions to include certain brands in someone’s research if I know they make a certain type of mattress but even then … because the same manufacturer can make a mattress differently in different areas of the country (for example either including thicker of polyfoam over latex or having latex right on the top surface) … it’s still important to know the details of every layer of a mattress and the brands I mention are just “possibilities” that further research into the materials may show to have better value. Brand names mean very little and I would never “rate” them except based on my knowledge of specific mattresses they may make or on the likelihood that they will tell their retail outlets (and through them their customers) what is in their mattresses.
You may also be referring to post #21 here which lists the members of this site which specialize in selling online or post #12 here which lists a few of the better online memory foam choices.
As the owner of a latex mattress company I myself prefer the blended talalay mainly because of the track record behind the product and personally seeing the wear and tear on these products after years of use. Natural talalay has only been in wide circulation about 5 or six years so there is no long term in field results to compare to.
I started off with a simple 6 + 2 design and being a side sleeper I choose a #28 core with 2" of #22 for my topper. Worked great for the last 10 + years. Then we started selling Rejuvenite toppers which come in both #19 and #28 and in 3" blended talalay. WOW! It was like adding a cloud on top of my cloud and for a side sleeper it is pure heaven. Lately a popular configuration has been a 6 + 3 which amounts to about a 10.5 inch latex mattress when finished.
When buying a latex mattress online look for those companies who have “skin in the game”, in other words those that have been around a long time and are not in it just to make a quick buck. Someone who actually manufactures the finished product and will be around if you have any warranty issues. You can also do a “whois” search on a domain name to see who’s been around the longest, those are the ones who have been committed to the advancement of latex mattresses here in America.
It’s good to see you on the forum and sharing your thoughts and experience from the perspective of someone who actually makes the mattresses that we “consumers” sometimes struggle so hard to decide on
