I am a 115-lbs side sleeper, with apparently a weak back. Based on a previous thread, I purchased a 3-layer Sleep EZ mattress: S Talalay/M Dunlop/F Dunlop. Here have been my results:
S-M-F: back pain
S-F-M: back pain
F-S-M: back pain
F-M-S: too hard, some numbness
M-F-S: best so far
It seems my best configuration is with medium on top. But I am imagining I don’t want to keep a soft Talalay as my base, correct? I’d like to exchange it.
would you recommend M/M/F or M/F/F? or something else?
should the top M layer be a Talalay M or stick with the Dunlop?
Hi Amma and thanks for reaching out on this! What size of mattress do you have, and are your layers split down the middle or is each layer just one piece of latex? If the layers are split, my advice would be to borrow a medium Dunlop layer from the other side of the mattress and put it on the side you normally sleep on so you can try m/m/f all Dunlop. If you try that and it’s perfect, then you know you’re fine to order a medium Dunlop layer for exchange. There’s no wrong way to set up the mattress, as long as you’re comfortable, so if an all-Dunlop mattress works for you, there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.
OK, in that case, my advice is to get a medium Talalay for exchange so you can try medium Talalay/medium Dunlop/firm Dunlop. The increase in firmness should eliminate the back pain and the top layer of Talalay should eliminate the pressure point issues, and can help with back pain as well because Talalay provides plenty of what we call secondary back support. Secondary support is needed to fill in the gaps between your body and the mattress – back sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between the small of their back and the mattress; side sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between their mid-section and the mattress, and stomach sleepers normally need this under their belly or in their upper shoulder / clavicle area. If these parts of a person’s body aren’t supported by the mattress, their muscles will work throughout the night to hold these parts of the body up, and by the time they wake up they’ve got back pain.
I swapped the Soft Talalay for a Medium Talalay (the swap was much easier than I had expected! although I did need help from a friend).
The Medium Talalay/Medium Dunlop/Firm still caused back pain, unfortunately.
So I am now trying Medium Dunlop/Medium Talalay/Firm. It’s been 3 nights and it’s better but my body is still not completely comfortable.
So I’ve tried about 8 variations over the last 3 months and had slept on an airbed before my SleepEZ mattress arrived so it’s been a long time since I’ve had a good night’s sleep.
I guess my next question is: Would I be able to tell the difference between M Talalay in the middle transition layer and Medium Dunlop? That seems like the only combination left to try…
Any change you make will give you a different feel, so you should be able to notice a difference. Have you considered trying medium Talalay over firm Dunlop over medium Dunlop?
I tried Medium Dunlop over Firm over Soft Talalay, and that was fairly comfortable. I swapped out the soft because it didn’t make sense to have a soft bottom layer.
I can try the Medium Talalay over Firm the next time I can get someone to help me. If that is too soft, I can try the Medium Dunlop over firm again. And maybe the last possible thing to try would be Medium Dunlop over Medium Dunlop.
So, after 4 months, I’ve tried at least 10 permutations. I think the most comfortable for me so far is Medium T/Medium D/Firm D (the first time I tried this, it was not comfortable, but I went back to it and it was very different the second time after trying the other options, for some reason).
I have one remaining question for you! What would be the difference in feel between a Soft Dunlop on top and a Medium Talalay? (maybe a weird question). As a reminder, I am 115 lbs, side sleeper but sensitive back so can’t go too soft.
Thank you again for reaching out! I’m glad to hear that you are now enjoying your mattress. With Dunlop latex being less consistent compared to Talalay, it’s difficult to definitively say whether a soft (19-20 ILD) Dunlop layer would be as soft or softer than a medium (30-32 ILD) Talalay layer. However, based on most of the feedback I’ve seen over the years, the soft Dunlop is usually a bit softer compared to a medium Talalay.
Don’t hesitate to reach out any time should you have any questions. Have a great evening!