Hi All (notably Phoenix),
After much research on this forum and shopping at local stores, I ordered myself a DIY latex mattress. I’m a 5" 9’, 205 lb male, and generally sleep about 50/50 side and back. I ordered a 34 ILD 6" all natural dunlop latex core, and a 26 ILD 3 inch all natural talalay topper (it is an N3 - the nice people at KTT enterprises found me a 26 since i though 28-29 would be too firm). For a cover i ordered the Sleepez non quilted stretch cover.
I’ve had the latex a few days now, and while I haven’t put the cover on yet., my initial impression is that the 26 ILD topper is letting my hips sink in about the right amount (I guess I would prefer if my hips sank a tad further, but not too much), but my shoulders are not sinking in as much as my hips (my shoulders only really sink in maybe half an inch or so when im on my back), which puts my spine at a bit of an angle (with my hips low and my upper back / neck/shoulders higher). This is worse when I am on my back than when I am on my side (on my side my shoulders still don’t sink as much as my hips - but it is closer because of the additional pressure my shoulders put down when I am on my side, if that makes sense).
I plan on giving it at least another week or two to break in and to confirm my feelings, but in the meantime I wanted to get some feedback about how I can soften up the top layer to let my shoulders sink in a bit more without letting my hips drop too much more. Because the bed is a split king with my girlfriend (who has memory foam on her side) - I cant replace the 3 inches with anything more than 3 inches. I am thinking about three options:
(1) replace the 3" 26 ILD topper with a 3" ~22 ILD topper
(2) replace the 3" 26 ILD topper with 1" of 22 ILD (or even lower) and 2" of 28 ILD
(3) replace the 3" 26 ILD topper with 2" of 22 ILD and 1 " of 28 or 32 ILD
The question is really whether a 3" 22 ILD would sufficiently stop my hips, or whether I should hedge my bets and split up the 3" into a 2-inch and 1-inch layer, with the lower layer being harder to stop my hips. To the extent it is relevant, I think the 34 ILD core is soft enough that I wouldn’t mind hitting it a little bit (I can’t feel it at all right now with the 3" 26 ILD, even when I push down). This is my only return on the topper so I am tempted by the flexibility that the mix of layers gives me - but I also don’t want to introduce unnecessary levels of complexity when a simple step down in firmness will do.
Thank you. .
**Edit: another option would be to order half the length of my bed in a 3" super soft 19 ILD or so, and cut my top layer in half to create a 2 zone system (with 26 under my hips/legs and 19 under my shoulders). This is intriguing but kind of makes me nervous re: what it will feel like and getting it right.