Guys, I tried to make my home work reading the forum and trying to search for the information that I need, but im getting crazy here! Theres soooo much information! This place is amazing!
Im trying to find the "safest" mattress for my health (without flame retardants or polyurethane foam) but at the same time, I cant pay the fortune that some brands asks for a mattress.
Based on what I read here, I have some questions:
Latex is the way to go for a natural mattress, right? But do I need to buy an 100% natural latex or the synthetic latex is also safe?
Is it possible to find a natural latex mattress from a good and reliable brand that costs under 1.8k (king size) ? I`m ok buying online, I live in the Houston area and I was not able to find showrooms for this kind of mattress.
What about organic? It`s possible to buy “safe” mattresses that are not organic? The price to get an 100% organic seem prohibitive for me.
I am by no means any sort of expert, since I’m shopping and researching myself. However, I have found a few options that are lower cost, for 100% natural latex, organic cotton/wool.
Try spindle - king $1,699
or plushbeds or urban green, both right around 2k.
I know spindle has good reviews here on this forum, but I haven’t researched the other 2 yet. Good luck!
Stacey
P.S. I’m also concerned about off-gassing and only looking at 100% natural latex. I am also making sure to get the organic cotton & wool cover, which has no chemical flame retardants.
While it may be more information than you are looking for … there is also a lot more information 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” or “how natural is natural enough for me” and that can help you decide on the type of materials and components you are most comfortable having in your mattress or on the certifications that may be important to you. These types of issues are complex and are generally specific to each person and their individual sensitivities, circumstances, criteria, beliefs, and lifestyle choices.
The only reliable way to to assess the “safety” of different materials in more general terms is based on lab tests and the certifications they have for harmful substances and VOCs (regardless of whether they are natural or synthetic) so that you have some assurance than the VOCs are below the testing limits for the certification. If the materials in a mattress or the mattress itself has a reliable “safety” certification then for most people they would certainly be “safe enough” … regardless of the type of material or the name of the manufacturer on the label.
All the latex you are likely to encounter (either Dunlop or Talalay that is made with either natural or synthetic rubber or a blend of both) will have a reliable certification such as Oeko-Tex, Eco-Institut, or Greenguard Gold (see post #2 here) or C2C (see post #13 here) and based on actual testing I would consider any type or blend of latex to be a very “safe” material in terms of harmful substances and VOC’s (offgassing).
Latex would certainly be the way to go for someone that prefers latex but for those that don’t prefer latex compared to other types of materials and components then of course it wouldn’t be the best choice. Assuming that the materials in a mattress you are considering are durable enough for your body type and meet the quality/durability guidelines here relative to your weight range and you also consider them to be “safe enough” based on their certifications … the choice between different types and combinations of materials and components or different types of mattresses are more of a preference and a budget choice than a “better/worse” choice (see this article). The best way to know which type of materials or mattresses you tend to prefer at least in very general terms (regardless of anyone else’s preferences) will be based on your own careful testing or your own personal experience.
Subject to first confirming that any retailer or manufacturer on the list that you wish to visit is completely transparent (see this article) and to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines here … the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Houston area are listed in post #2 here. You would need to check their websites or call them to confirm whether their prices are in your budget range.
If you are considering online options then the mattress shopping tutorial includes a link to a list of the members here that sell mattresses online (in the optional online step) and many of them sell latex and latex hybrid mattresses that use different types and blends of latex that have a wide range of different designs, options, features, return and exchange policies, and prices that would be well worth considering and some of them are certainly inside your budget range. Post #3 here also includes a list of many online manufacturers that sell component latex mattresses as well (with some overlap with the members list) and some of these are in your budget range as well.
Most people that are looking for an “organic” mattress or materials are usually concerned more with “safety” than whether the materials have an actual organic certification. There is more information about the three different levels of organic certifications in post #2 here and some of the benefits of an organic certification in post #3 here and there is more about the different types of organic and safety certifications in post #2 here and more about some of the differences between organic and safety certifications in post #2 here and there are also some comments in post #42 here that can help you decide whether an organic certification is important to you for environmental, social, or personal reasons or whether a “safety” certification is enough.
We purchase 100% natural latex queen mattress of 3 cores. 2 cores are 3" thick and 1 core is 6" thick. 2 cores are dunlop and 1 core is talalay Each core has own cotton cover and we added a 12" cover (not sure why) and all wool puddle pad mattress cover. Also 2 queen pillows stuffed with latex scraps.
Total price $1850
knock off pillows and price would be less than 1800, knock off wool puddle pad and price would be 1600
Shopped for some time. Perhaps 3 sellers were in this price range. Finding sellers willing to allow selection of firmness and mixing of dunlop and talalay took considerable searching. However, without searching I would not have learned much about details.
For one stop diy 100% natural without all searching and second guessing what is being sold, check DIY Natural Bedding . Owner is as solid as rock in regards to natural, no synthetics, no chemicals.