Hey JohnyDanger,
Welcome to the Mattress Underground 
! Thanks for your question.
Congrats on your upcoming mattress purchase ! Thanks for including your personal statistics and a bit of your personal background, as well as your budget and mattress preferences; good job on your initial prep work, JohnyDanger! I’m sorry to hear that your current “low quality” memory foam mattress is not supporting you well any longer and causing you to sleep hot, both issues make for long, sleepless nights when combined. Thanks too for considering trusted member Shepherd’s Dream for a possible wool mattress purchase, they are deeply experienced experts in the wool category and have a strict ethic towards local sourcing and cruelty-free wool production.
There has been a recent uptick in interest of wool mattresses lately on the forum. Mattress “impressions” can result from compression of natural fibers over time with normal use and can be eased somewhat with regular fluffing, flipping or rotating of the wool mattress. You may find this forum site search query for the term “natural materials” interesting, there are +26 pages of content with much discussion of how to care for wool and cotton, how these materials feel in the mattress, and how they perform from a durability standpoint. You may also find a read of consumer conversations inpost #1, post #2, and post #7interesting for your research.
While I am not familiar with The Futon Shop’s products, and as they do not participate in the TMU’s trusted member program, I did find a few clues from their site regarding several of your concerns. The latex infused Hemp Coir is OEKO-TEX Standard 100 Certified, assuring that textile products are tested for harmful substances that are banned or regulated by law. This certification is updated annually, so you would want to ask that theirs is current for their natural materials. The 4" layer of soy-foam is described as “High Resilience” but there are no spec numbers to support that as fact. When researching types of polyfoams, understanding their densities and support factors is important to ensure that “weak links” in terms of lower quality/ less durable materials aren’t being used. To qualify as HR polyfoam, it must also have a support factor of 2.4 or higher and should weigh 2.5 lbs per cu. ft. or more. In the event a mattress you are considering has some type of synthetic foam component (in which case, off-gassing is potentially a concern), ensure that the manufacturer/ retailer has certified their foams for any off gassing or toxicity by a reputable testing organization such as Oeko-Tex, CertiPur or Eco-Institut. Regarding returns, their site says they offer 1 exchange within the first 30 days of purchase of a futon mattress $459 or greater, no credits or refunds, so that is something you’ll have to decide whether you are comfortable with. You would be best served with contacting the Futon Shop directly, asking more specifics on material specs as well as clarification of any return policy questions you may have.
[quote]
I am not married to any of these options, and at this point I am overwhelmed and really looking for input on wool, wool combo’s, or any other non-latex memory foam alternative for a decent, firm mattress in my price range. Thank all of you in advance!
[/quote]
Two last questions for you, JohnyDanger: what size mattress are you looking to buy and if you do go with a wool mattress of some type, do you plan to update your current foundation? Looking forward to your replies and thanks .
Sensei