Hi Phoenix,
My husband and I are overwhelmed. We have a temperpedic which I love. He really wants an all natural non-synthetic mattress. What do you recommend as a compromise? We are currently looking at a 100 percent latex mattress from Therapetic sold by Sleep Nation here in Denver, Nu-lex (Foam Source), Tatami and Classic 8 from Essential, the Bella Sera and Savvy Rest. I have read that some of these latex mattresses develop grooves after some use. How do I avoid purchasing a mattress without this issue?
I would like something as close to the feeling of memory foam that is natural.
The first place I would start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you know how to make the best possible choices … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
I don’t make specific recommendations about what to choose because there are too many variables and preferences involved and nobody else can feel what you feel on a mattress (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here) but I can certainly help with “how” to choose. There is more in post #2 here and the posts it links to about organic, natural, safe, “chemical free” and green materials that can help you decide on the type of materials you would be comfortable having in your mattress and once you have decided this then it’s much easier to know whether any mattress you are looking at meets your criteria if you know the specifics of the materials inside it (see this article).
The best way to assess the durability of a mattress is to make sure you know the type and quality/durability of all the layers inside it. Latex is the most durable of all the foam materials (latex foam, polyfoam, and memory foam) but there are many consumers that believe they have purchased a “so called” latex mattress when they didn’t find out what was actually inside it and in many cases their mattress may only have relatively small amounts of latex inside it and include other lower quality materials in the mix which are the cause of any softening or visible impressions in their mattress so they will write a review that says their “latex mattress” is sagging when in fact it’s the other materials in their mattress that are the real issue. There is more in post #4 here and the posts it links to about the many variables that can affect the durability and useful life of a mattress relative to different people.
I would also make some careful value comparisons with some of the mattresses you are considering.
If by “Essential” you mean “Essentia” then you can read some of my thoughts about them and some of the misleading claims they make and some forum discussions with them in this thread and this thread and posts #3 and #4 here.
Savvy Rest is certainly a good quality choice and uses high quality materials (either organic Dunlop or 100% natural Talalay with a wool quilted cotton cover) but I would also make some careful value comparisons with other very similar mattresses that use the same or similar materials and have the same design that are available to you so that you are comfortable that it’s the best value choice for you. A forum search on “Savvy Rest” (you can just click the link) will bring up more information about them as well.
You can see my thoughts and comments about Sean and My Sleep Nation in post #2 here and in post #2 here which also includes some of the other local options and possibilities in the Denver area. A forum search on sleepnation (you can just click the link) will bring up more information and feedback about them as well.
A forum search on Foam Source (you can just click this as well) will also bring up more information and feedback about them and they would also be among the better quality/value choices in the area and would be well worth considering as well.
Post #13 here also has more information about the most important parts of the value of a mattress purchase that can help you make more meaningful comparisons between your finalists.
Memory foam and latex are closer to being opposites than they are similar because they are very different materials with very different properties and types of response. There is more information in post #2 here about the many differences between memory foam and latex. There aren’t any “natural” memory foam materials and if you are considering a latex mattress I would make sure that you have tested different versions of latex mattresses to make sure you are comfortable with how it feels and performs because it will be very different from memory foam. There are also some types of latex that are made to have a slow response that is “somewhat” similar to memory foam but these are much less common and difficult to find because most people that prefer latex tend to want the “feel” of latex and don’t want it to feel like memory foam and most people that prefer the slow response and “feel” of memory foam would tend to choose memory foam over a slow response version of latex.