I want to thank you for providing such a great site! It’s been so informative for me. Mattress shopping is one of my least favorite things to do but at least now you’ve helped me become a more educated consumer!
With all my knowledge I’m still having a little trouble deciding so I thought maybe you could help steer me in the right direction.
I’m 5’5" and 125lbs. I’ve had some back issues and tore the labrum in my hip so have to have hip surgery soon. I want a mattress that will keep me in good alignment but also feels more cushy and relieves pressure from my shoulders and hips. I sleep mostly on my side but occas on my back.
I was wanting to do latex this time BC I also have some chemical sensitivities and like the idea of having something as natural as possible with no off gassing.
I’m in the Atlanta area and have only been able to try savvy rest for all latex. I tried prana beds too which were comfortable but they use lots of polyfoam and weren’t able to give me a lot of details about the bed. The prana has a really high price tag and if I don’t like it all I can do is exchange.
The savvy rest I’ve tried various configurations and seem to prefer soft talalay on top with two layers of Dunlop underneath. The issue I’m running into is in order for me to be supported and in neutral alignment I’m feeling a bit too much pushback in the shoulder and more like I’m on top of the bed. When my shoulders feel good my hips are dipping a bit/not completely neutral. I’d like to feel like I sink in just a little in the shoulder and hips without compromising alignment.
I’ve talked to Hans at cozy pure and love the idea of them and how organic they are but they don’t use talalay at all and are less customizable with the 6" core.
I’ve also been talking to Jodi at sleepez and the customer service there has been exceptional.
Do you have any recommendations of another company or type of bed that may suit my needs better? I want nontoxic and supportive/comfortable.
While I can certainly help with “how” to choose … I don’t make specific suggestions or recommendations for either a mattress, manufacturers/retailers, or combinations of materials or components because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” or PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress), sleeping positions, or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more accurate than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists (based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you).
Assuming that the materials in a mattress you are considering are durable enough for your body type and meet the quality/durability guidelines here … 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). There are hundreds and perhaps thousands of different mattresses in each category and there are very high quality and durable mattresses in each of the different categories so I would be cautious about excluding any type of mattress based on “theory” or assuming that one type of mattress or combination of materials will be better for you than another unless you have tried a broad range of different types of mattresses and confirmed that you tend to prefer them based on your own personal experience on a wide range of different mattresses.
Zoning systems can sometimes be useful and worth considering for people in situations such as yours that have difficulty finding a mattress with the right “balance” between comfort/pressure relief (under the shoulders especially) and support/alignment (under the hips/pelvis especially) or who have more challenging circumstances or sensitivities, body types that are more difficult to “match” to a mattress, more complex medical issues, or who have a history of having more difficulty in finding a mattress that works well for them. There is more about zoning in this article and in post #11 here and the additional posts it links to.
The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Atlanta area (subject to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets your criteria and the quality/value guidelines I linked earlier in this reply) are listed in post #2 here.
You can read more about Pranasleep in general and the previous versions (up to version 4) of Pranasleep mattresses in post #3 here and in post #2 here and in post #3 here and in posts #1 and #2 here and a forum search on Prana (you can just click this) will also bring up more information and feedback about them as well.
The good news is that they changed the design in version 5 and the top layers of polyfoam are now higher quality/density and are no longer what I would consider to be a weak link in the mattress in terms of durability. Having said that they are still in a significantly higher budget range than other similar mattresses and the top layers are still polyfoam so you would still be feeling and sleeping on polyfoam as much as latex but this could also be a “feel” that you prefer compared to sleeping more directly on latex . There is more about the new version 5 in post #19 here but I would certainly make some very careful “value” comparisons with other latex mattresses that use similar materials and are in a lower budget range before considering one of their mattresses to be the “best value” choice available to you.
I would keep in mind that all foam materials (including latex) have “some” offgassing and VOC’s so it’s really a question of knowing whether any harmful VOC’s are at “safe” levels (which they would be with any type or blend of latex). 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 VOC’s so that you have some assurance than the VOC’s are below the testing limits for the certification (see post #2 here for more information about some of the more reliable “safety” certifications). 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”.
While it may be more information than you are looking for … there is 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 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” that can help each person decide on the types of materials they are most comfortable having in their mattress or on the certifications that may be important to them. These types of issues are complex and are generally specific to each person and their individual sensitivities, circumstances, criteria, beliefs, and lifestyle choices.
I would consider the choice between Talalay and Dunlop to be a preference choice rather than a better/worse choice regardless of which layers they are being used in a mattress. There is more about the differences between them in post #7 here.
As you probably know both SleepEZ and Cozy Pure are members of this site which means that I think very highly of both of them and I believe that they both compete well with the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, knowledge, and transparency … but I would always keep in mind that the only way to know for certain whether any mattress will be a good “match” for you in terms of PPP will be based on your own careful testing or your own personal sleeping experience so the options you have after a purchase to “fine tune” a mattress either by rearranging or exchanging layers or adding additional layers or components to a mattress can be among the more important parts of the “value” of an online purchase. Both companies have good options available for “fine tuning” their mattresses although the methods they use are different.
Phoenix,
Thank you for the thorough reply!
Do you have any recommendation for where I should look for a latex bed that has a good zoning option? Trying to achieve neutral alignment in hips with adequate pressure relief in shoulders. I read your post that said anything over 3 zones is unnecessary and sometimes can make matters worse. I know flobeds has a 7-zone customizable layer you can get. Seems like that could be overkill? Cozy pure has a zoned core they can do but from my understanding they can pour the Dunlop latex in the core in a way that can potentially firm up the middle.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on these two and recommendations for other viable options I can check out.
I don’t have any specific recommendations because whether any zoning system would be “good” or neutral or detrimental for you (compared to a non zoned system or a different zoning pattern) would depend on how your body type and sleeping positions “fit” the specific zones.
There is more about the Flobeds zoning system in post #4 here. Their zones are customizable and I don’t believe they are overkill because of how they can be rearranged and because they are specific to the main areas of the body that may require zoning (the hips/pelvis, lumbar/lower back, and shoulders).
Yes … the middle zone is firmer than the progressively softer outer zones so it can help to “stop” the hips/pelvis from sinking into the mattress as deeply and “allow” the shoulders to sink in a little more deeply.
Both of them are members of the site which means that I think very highly of them and that I believe that they both compete well with the best in the industry in terms of quality, value, service, knowledge, and transparency.
Both of them are “all latex” mattresses so there are no lower quality materials or weak links in either of them that would compromise the durability or useful life of either mattress.
Your own careful testing and/or your actual personal experience is the most reliable way to know whether any mattress is a good “match” for you in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP or how closely it “matches” another mattress but when you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.
I don’t keep a record of the individual mattresses or their specs that the retailers and manufacturers in the hundreds of forum lists throughout the forum carry on their floor or have available online (it would be a bigger job than anyone could keep up with in a constantly changing market) but checking their websites and making some preliminary phone calls to the retailers/manufacturers that are on the local or online lists is always a good idea before you decide on which retailers or manufacturers you wish to deal with anyway. This will tell you which of them carry mattresses that would meet your specific criteria, are transparent about the materials in their mattresses, and that carry the type of mattresses that you are interested in that are also in the budget range you are comfortable with. Once you have checked their websites and/or talked with the ones that interest you then you will be in a much better position to decide on the ones that you are most interested in considering or visiting based on the results of your preliminary research and conversations.
There are hundreds of zoned mattresses in the market in many different mattress categories (including “all latex” mattresses) most of which use “fixed” zones but there are a few that use customizable zones as well. Some of the ones that use customizable zones include Flobeds which you mentioned and the Reverie Dream Mattresses (although they aren’t “zoned” in the more traditional sense of the word because they have cylinders that can be rearranged to provide different levels of firmness and feel). Some of the Sleeptek/Obasan mattresses also have separate zoned sections that can be changed and Nxtbed also has custom zoned mattresses and Elements of Rest in Atlanta also have mattresses that have customizable zoning (although they aren’t all latex). There are probably others as well that don’t immediately come to mind.