I’ve been poring over old posts on latex mattresses and emailing back and forth with companies over the last couple of weeks, but still feeling uncertain. I am a side sleeper and I like a very soft mattress. I sleep next to a very heavy back sleeper. We’ve been looking at natural latex mattresses, in particular building our own or going with the 9" from Sleep On Latex, or the Bionda from Essentia. We’ve focused on these options primarily based on price and on the non toxicity of the materials.
The recommendation I’ve gotten from Sleep On Latex is to go with their soft 9" mattress, as their beds all tend toward firm, even though the 9" has a 2" soft layer. The DIY Natural Bedding seems to guide people in the direction of building a latex mattress with soft layers on top of firmer supportive layers. Does anyone have any experience with the soft version of the SOL 9" mattress? Would it perhaps be less supportive and too squishy or floppy for a 180-190 lb person? Thanks!
There is more information (in case you haven’t found it already) in post #2 here and the more detailed posts and information it links to about safe, natural, organic, “chemical free”, and “green” mattresses and mattress materials that can help you sort through some of the marketing information and terminology that you will encounter in the industry and can help you differentiate between them and answer “how safe is safe enough for me”. These types of issues are complex and are generally specific to each person and their individual sensitivities, circumstances, criteria, beliefs, and lifestyle choices.
As far as other pricing options, there are other site members (in addition to Sleep on Latex, who is a member here) listed in post #21 here who are extremely knowledgeable about latex mattresses and latex component systems. I think highly of their knowledge, quality and expertise, and believe they compete well with the best in the industry. Many of these systems are configurable for each side of the mattress, which may be desirable in your situation. While the materials listed for the Essentia latex mattress are good quality, there are certainly better pricing options from site members listed in the previous link. You can also learn a bit more about Essentia and some of their history by doing a forum search on them here.
When you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs, options, and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else and I would trust their suggestions. You can also check at that time about any exchange, return, or any options they have available to customize a mattress after a purchase can help lower the risk of an online purchase.
Unfortunately, there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved in choosing a mattress for someone else to make specific suggestions based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or theory at a distance that can possible be more accurate than your own careful and objective testing (using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) which is always the most reliable way to predict which mattress will be the best match for you in terms of PPP (see post #2 here).
There are also no “standard” definitions or consensus of opinions for firmness ratings and different manufacturers can rate their mattresses very differently than others so a mattress that one manufacturer rates as being a specific firmness could be rated very differently by another manufacturer. Different people can also have very different perceptions of firmness and softness compared to others as well and a mattress that feels firm for one person can feel like “medium” for someone else or even “soft” for someone else (or vice versa) depending on their body type, sleeping style, physiology, their frame of reference based on what they are used to, and their individual sensitivity and perceptions. There are also different types of firmness and softness that different people may be sensitive to that can affect how they “rate” a mattress as well (see post #15 here) so different people can also have very different opinions on how a mattress compares in terms of firmness and some people may rate one mattress as being firmer than another and someone else may rate them the other way around. This is all relative and very subjective.
I’m interested in learning about your process and anything else you decide to do, and if there are other questions you have through your research.
