latex mattress concerns

[phoenix]

Hi sleepytime,

I am 5 feet tall and weigh just under 100 lbs., so I’m not putting a huge amount of weight on the coils.

It’s not the coils that are the problem … it’s the foam above the coils. A mattress breaks down from the top down and in most cases the coils themselves will far outlast any lower density polyfoam above them.

The fast response felt much better on my back than the slow response, which I also tested. The salesperson said that the mattress I chose is Oetek-certified (I believe, but correct me if I’m wrong, that the Oetek certification for Talalay latex is more rigorous than a Certi-PUR certification?) and so natural that it’s practically “edible.”

The PLB toppers are mostly 30% natural and 70% synthetic latex which is a great quality material but not natural (although they do have “all natural” toppers but they are not usually the ones that the large majority of retailers carry). Oeko-Tex is an independent certification while CertiPur was put together by polyurethane manufacturers themselves. You can see the Oeko-Tex testing protocol here and the CertiPur testing protocol here. Many of the specific tests are similar or the same but overall Oeko-Tex is more stringent yes.

ADMIN NOTE:*Always check CertiPur site for the latest guidelines available

I was advised that the ultra-natural Pure Latex Bliss topper will feel denser than the fast response one, is more expensive, and I don’t have an opportunity to test it in the store anyway.

You can read more in post #2 here about the differences between 100% natural Talalay and blended Talalay and post #6 here has more about the different types of latex in general.

All the latex you are likely to encounter … synthetic or natural … is likely to be Oeko-Tex certified and would be a “safe” material. Talalay GL fast response is blended Talalay that has about 30% natural rubber and about 70% synthetic rubber like their regular blended Talalay and the main difference between it and the Talaltech blended Talalay is that it has phase change gel added to the latex. The slow response Talalay GL uses a different blend of SBR (synthetic latex) to create the slow response.

Phoenix