Hi Diane,
I think it’ll be ~10 days to get the mattress/topper, I can’t wait, I hope it wasn’t a dream how good that combo felt.
As far as polyfoam: I found this website after lying on a few Pranasleep mattresses at Jordan’s furniture, doing a google search on Pranasleep, and ending up here (along with lots of reading). The Pranasleep mattresses I tried had 8" of latex and either 2 or 3" of quilted non-latex foam on top (polyfoam?). Those mattresses felt great, soft & firm at the same time, but they are very expensive and there were several reviews of that top quilted foam wearing out quickly and sagging. Most latex mattresses don’t have that soft thick quilted type top cover, so you get right into the latex, which I would say is springy and lively, maybe to a fault as I like the firmness and support of latex, but they typically don’t have that plush feel (without the topper).
Now, that 2" topper though was a cross between the feel of a latex mattresses and that of polyfoam on the Pranasleep or on any of the soft plush traditional mattresses (Sealy, Beautyrest, Stearns & Foster, etc), but it seemed to have only the good qualities of either. It was really soft like a plush traditional mattress, but had a welcome springiness. So much of the feel probably was due to the mattress under it too, but I’d say that topper was both more soft and supporting than the top foam layers of a traditional new mattress (eg Beautyrest). It was really transforming.
That last post by Phoenix (thanks again Phoenix!) points to another thread where they discuss a topper and how it’s like a pillow top. Now, I never really realized what difference a pillow top made till I read that thread, but the topper being independent helps soften up the feel.
Also, I think another big factor is likely the fire barrier. Phoenix, can you confirm: I think mattresses are required to have a fire protection layer in the cover, which probably adds some hardness there as it thickens & stiffens the fabric over the mattress. Whereas the toppers don’t appear to require this (probably by law). The net effect is that the cover on the topper was softer than what was on the mattress, and this definitely contributed to the softness I felt.
FWIW, I’m 6’, 165 lbs, widest at the shoulders, then hips, but not super athletic build either. When I was on my side, this topper did support my waist, while allowing my shoulders to sink in. Again, the mattress played a big role here too. I’m still shocked at the difference between the Pamper/topper and the Nature, two setups both with 10" of total latex and 4" of that in comfort and 6" for support. I’ve been on many different composition latex mattresses (natural, synthetic, talalay, dunlop), and haven’t felt that much of a difference even when the specs would have indicated a larger change. It’s really weird. I just know it would be hard to do this without actually trying them out, so I understand the difficulty you would have in picking something out without being able to try it.
Also, initially I would have preferred all natural latex, just because it’s all natural. But after reading about the differences, I’m not sure that all natural is better, it really might not be. I’ve heard there may be a slight vanilla smell with the talalay when new, I’m prepared for that but not a lot of people mention it or complain, so it’s not a concern for me.
Ken