I’m thinking of buying a Novosbed, Nest or Casper.
I am very sensitive to chemical smells…has anyone compiled a comparison of all the major foam companies to see which are best/worst?
Hi Vanchat,
You can look at the CertPUR-US certification and see if this helps you find what your looking for in polyurethane foam. If you want to avoid as much chemicals as possible you may better looking into Organic dumlop latex, or 100% natural talalay.
cheers
Vanchat wrote:
VOCs and odors are two different things. While foams that are CertiPur-US certified will state that they are tested for Low Emission (VOC) Indoor Air Quality, it doesn’t state anything about odors. You can have two different foams that are certified with two very different levels of smell, which can be quite objective, Certainly those with MCS or those who are very sensitive to odor can find certified foams to still be too “smelly” for them. If you’re ordering something online, be sure you can return it for a full refund if it doesn’t pass your smell test. Also, realize that many foam odors will dissipate as time goes on, but some will linger much longer than others. This is one case where only you will know what works for you because of your unique situation.
Hi Vanchat,
I would echo Jeff’s comments that the smell of a mattress is a separate issue from the level of harmful VOC’s that may be coming from a mattress (some harmful VOC’s don’t have a smell).
There are also several certifications that test for the level of harmful VOC’s but the certification only identifies whether the mattress is under the testing limits for that specific certification and doesn’t “rank” them relative to each other or specify which are “best or worst”. There is more about the different “safety” certifications in post #2 here but again I would keep in mind that there may still be an odor to a mattress that has passed a safety certification. Any odor would normally be stronger at first until the mattress has a chance to air out and some people may be much more sensitive to certain smells that other people may not notice nearly as much.
There is a lot more information in post #2 here and the more detailed posts and information it links to about safe, natural, organic, “chemical free”, and “green” mattresses and mattress materials that can help sort through some of the marketing information and terminology that you will encounter in the industry and can help you differentiate between them and answer “how safe is safe enough for me” that can help each person decide on the types of materials they are most comfortable having in their mattress or on the certifications that may be important to them. These types of issues are complex and are generally specific to each person and their individual sensitivities, circumstances, criteria, beliefs, and lifestyle choices.
If you are purchasing a mattress online that you can’t test “or smell” in person before a purchase and you have specific criteria about smell or anything else that are important to you then the return/exchange policy would become a more important part of your purchase just in case a mattress doesn’t work out as well as you hoped for or in case you are sensitive to the smell regardless of whether the materials have a certification.
Phoenix