Confused... Organic Latex Mattress buying

[phoenix]

Hi Jeney,

I’m new to this forum and would like to get some information. We want to buy a new king size mattress. After spending several days to find out what would be the best for us, we are getting very close to deside on an Organic Latex Mattress. I think, I like the Talalay Latex the best but have problem to figure out what firmness/hardness to get.

I would first make sure you are familiar with what is organic and what isn’t if an organic certification is important to you. There is no organic Talalay latex for example (only 100% natural). There is more about the different types of latex (including organic) in post #6 here and more about the organic latex certification itself in post #2 here. At this point the only latex that is certified organic is Dunlop.

Post #2 here has more about how to make design choices (either personal testing or more detailed conversations with an online manufacturer you are considering are the only effective way to make a choice)

I understand the Talalay matterial comes max 40" wide and I don’t want to feel a seam at the middle if we get Different firmness on top and it is glued together.

You can read more about mold sizes and glue seams in post #6 here and post #2 here.

I also, would not want to have shifting problems for half size layers if they are loose.

This generally isn’t an issue and you can read more about split layers in post #2 here and more about layers shifting in post #2 here.

Also, would be nice to have something you could flip

A two sided mattress is a very different design from a one sided mattress. A two sided mattress will be more durable than a one sided mattress because the comfort layers have a chance to rest and recover when they are on the bottom of the mattress. With a two sided mattress though the firmer support core is in the middle and the mattress is “finished” the same on both sides so this means that there is a little less design flexibility because if the comfort layers are too thick then thicker layers of soft materials on the bottom of the mattress can affect support/alignment.

With a one sided mattress the firm support core is on the bottom and then the layers can get progressively firmer on top of it so there is more design flexibility with the mattress because the softer layers will never be on the bottom.

With one sided designs that use more durable materials like latex then the greater design flexibility of a one sided design is worth the tradeoff of a two sided mattress for many people. In many cases if a mattress has individual layers then if the top layer softens or breaks down faster than the firmer deeper layers (which is the norm) then it can be replaced individually without replacing the entire mattress. With loose layers then the individual layers can also be flipped (instead of flipping the whole mattress) which can add somewhat to the durability of the layers but in most cases it’s the top layer that will soften or break down before the others.

Everything is a tradeoff and if a two sided mattress is more important then you would lose some of the design flexibility or the ability to re-arrange or exchange individual layers.

Phoenix