My wife and I are looking for a new mattress. I originally was leaning towards a full natural latex mattress with a zippable cover due to the customizability and longevity (being able to swap out layers in the future). We currently have a 7 year old memory foam mattress and the top layer has softened too much and we’re both waking up with back/shoulder pain. I wanted to try a fully latex mattress locally before making a decision, but unfortunately none of our local stores had any fully latex models on display to try.
We did go to a Mattress Firm and tried a few different hybrid mattresses. In regards to firmness, we both preferred the ones labeled as firm. Also, my wife really liked the ‘bounce’ of the Purple Hybrid. I’m 5’ 10", 185lbs and mostly sleep on my back (sometimes on my side). My wife is 5’6" and 145 lbs. and mostly sleeps on her side (and sometimes on her side).
After reading customer reviews about Purple mattresses (especially in this forum) I’m not really wanting to go that route because of how quickly everyone says they tend to lose their support. Instead I want to either go with a full latex mattress or a hybrid latex mattress with a zippable cover so that if we have the foam start to break down again in 5-10 years I can just buy a replacement comfort layer instead of an entire mattress.
Mostly, I’m needing help deciding between a hybrid or a full latex mattress. I’m assuming that since she liked the bounce of the Purple Hybrid that means I should stick with a hybrid setup with coils, correct? I know latex is very responsive, but a fully latex mattress won’t be able to mimic that bounce will it?
The only reason I’m hesitant to go the hybrid approach is that from what I’ve read most usually don’t recommend them for side sleepers. I don’t want it to end up being something my wife ends up hating after a few weeks.
It’s going to be nearly impossible to approximate a Purple mattress because they use buckling column gel in a grid form. You can read more about this material here.
Hybrid mattresses maintain the traditional bounce of an innerspring mattress, while all latex is sometimes described in comparison to pound cake but is great for motion isolation.
I wouldn’t worry about being a side sleeper. As long as you have adequate material in your comfort layer, you should be fine. In general a good starting point for a good comfort layer for a side sleeper is 3" and then depending on weight, body shape, preferences, and the firmness of the support layers, to go up or down from there. Most side sleepers will fall in the range of from 2" -4". Without an appropriate comfort layer, a side sleeper will end up with pressure points during the course of the night and could have symptoms of numbness, soreness, localized redness, or end up tossing and turning all night as your body tries to relieve the pressure. Some side sleepers find that a set up in which there is a comfort layer followed by a support layer followed by the coils is successful, supportive, and comfortable for them.
Thanks for responding. I was pretty sure replicating the feel of the Purple gel would be difficult/impossible.
I showed my wife some video reviews of full latex mattresses so she could see that they have some bounce to them. After talking with her about it more I think she really cares about the responsiveness of the mattress. We are coming from a memory foam mattress so anything will be an improvement in that regard.
I ended up ordering a 3 layer latex mattress from Flexuscomfort last night. I figured we’d start with that and give it a try. If that doesn’t work out we will try the hybrid route next.
