I have narrowed it down to wanting latex! But I am unsure if a hybrid or a straight latex support is best for me and my partner! Let me give you some details
I’m 5ft 7 200 lbs fairly broad shoulders and hips “muscular” strict back sleeper with a sensitive low back due to low spine shifting backwards I slept on a shikibuton for 6 months and loved it but found overtime I needed a bit more pressure relief ( plus my partner was tired of me sleeping on the floor)
My partner is 5ft 6 and 155 with wide hips and has fibromyalgia, strict side sleeper, and softer is better for her
We are thinking of doing a twin XL set up so she can have her softness preference and I can have my firmness preference
Based on the data I have given you what would be a good ILD for support transition and comfort layers for both, ideally the same thickness, but not a dealbreaker
Unless you plan on using different firmnesses for the base layer it’d probably be cheaper to put together a split firmness king mattress. The usual setup is either a 6 or 8" spring which is usually medium/ medium-firm, or a 6" layer of medium dunlop.
Sleep ez arranges layers for your height and weight on the website for split firmness. Which i believe optimally for her would be 3" firm dunlop, 3" medium talalay, and 3" soft talalay. While for you, 3" firm dunlop, 3" medium dunlop, and 3" medium talalay.
Talalay feels more plush while dunlop feels a little firmer at the same softness rating.
Based on the information you’ve provided, I would absolutely recommend three 3" layers for the setup with medium Talalay over medium Dunlop over firm Dunlop for your side and soft Talalay over medium Dunlop over firm Dunlop for your pertner’s side. The top Talalay layer should provide all the contour and pressure relief needed to avoid any pressure point issues and will add secondary support to the mattress. Secondary support is needed to fill in the gaps between your body and the mattress – back sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between the small of their back and the mattress; side sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between their mid-section and the mattress, and stomach sleepers normally need this under their belly or in their upper shoulder / clavicle area. If these parts of a person’s body aren’t supported by the mattress, their muscles will work throughout the night to hold these parts of the body up, and by the time they wake up they’ve got back pain. So the top 3” of Talalay latex will provide contour, pressure relief, and secondary support. The remaining Dunlop layers should provide all the support needed to maintain proper spinal alignment and avoid back pain. Please keep in mind that our initial recommendations have a 90% success rate (we only have a 10% layer exchange rate and a 3%-4% return rate) so there’s a 90% chance that the above recommendation works perfectly for you.
I don’t normally recommend latex and coil hybrids over an all-latex mattress, and this is for a few reasons. The all-latex mattress is fully customizable and fully adjustable. So you can customize the mattress before purchasing so that it’s as soft as you’d like, as firm as you’d like, has as much contour and pressure relief as you’d like, has as much support for your back as you’d like, etc., whereas the Hybrid has limited options for customizing the mattress. For our hybrids, you can request a custom firmness for the top layer before we make the mattress, and there is a $100 custom mattress fee for that, and there’s no way to change the firmness of the hyrbid mattress after we make it, except you can add a topper to make the mattress softer. On the all-latex mattress, if you start with a certain setup and find that it’s too soft, you can unzip the cover and rearrange the layers to get a firmer feel out of the mattress, or you can exchange a layer to make it softer. Additionally, latex mattresses typically last 20 years (whereas a latex and coil hybrid is closer to 10-15 years). If, in 5 or 10 or 15 years you decide you want a softer or firmer mattress you would only have to buy a new layer instead of an entirely new mattress. Aside from that, the Hybrid has a bouncier and springier feel, and feels more similar to a traditional spring mattress. The Hybrid is ideal for people that weigh less than 250 pounds and already know they prefer the feel of a mattress with springs in it. It also has enhanced edge support compared to all latex mattresses. Although there’s no perfect way to compare the two mattresses directly, I’d say the Hybrid feels closest to our all latex mattress in the following configuration: medium Talalay over firm Dunlop over firm Dunlop.
Quick question - on the custom builder program on the website for a 9" mattress, it says in the description the layers are 1" cotton cover, 2" of latex, 3" then 3". Is that correct? Or is it actually 3", 3" and 3" layers? I’ve been using it today and interested to see what would work best for me as well.
The 9" mattress is 2" for the top layer, 3" for the bottom 2 layers, and an inch of wool in the cover. The 10" mattress is three 3" layers and an inch of wool in the cover.