Mattress cover material

[phoenix]

Hi Roddy,

I’m just wondering what your take is on the Aloe cover on Brooklyn Bedding’s Aloe Alexis. They say “It offers a smooth and moisturizing property that rejuvenates skin during dry and cold seasons.” It seems to me that to get that affect you would have to sleep naked directly on the cover. While the naked part is not unusual, don’t most people have at least a sheet on the mattress? I know we do. Am I missing something, or do you think this is just marketing?

There are a lot of “Aloe” mattress covers on the market and I think that the claims about the benefits of having Aloe impregnated in the cover are more about marketing than anything else. The only “real” benefit I could think of is that aloe impregnated in microcapsules in a fabric could help keep the cover soft and pliable as they release. I have seen no evidence that it would penetrate the mattress protector, bedding, and bedclothes to be able to provide the benefits of Aloe to the skin. On a pillow … perhaps. In a mattress… I doubt it … but I’m always open to information that can show me otherwise.

In most cases … these are just the “marketing stories” that are passed on by the manufacturers of the ticking/quilting that a manufacturer uses. Unfortunately in today’s market … marketing can sometimes be a factor in how well you eat … or don’t

The other side of the story is that this cover is a 50/50 blend of cotton and viscose/rayon fiber made from Aloe. Fabrics made from cellulosic fibers like aloe, bamboo, eucalyptus and many other types of cellulose can have some real benefits and are very soft, strong, breathable, and temperature regulating. Viscose type fibers are different though from having Aloe Vera impregnated in the cover itself. The cover also uses wool which is also a “value bonus”.

So overall I wouldn’t buy a mattress because it had Aloe Vera gel impregnated in the cover with questionable benefits. I would consider a mattress cover that used Aloe fiber as the source of the fabric fiber and had wool in the quilting as a good choice.
Post #7 here has many links to resources which compare the benefits of different types of fiber and fabrics including viscose fibers.

Post #11 here also has more information about viscose fibers such as Bamboo and the benefits of Aloe fibers would be very similar. It also has some information about the benefits of wool.

This article and post #6 here has a little more about the benefits of wool quilting.

Finally, I see in their description a side benefit of the zippered cover that I haven’t seen mentioned in the forum. That it can be removed for dry cleaning and sanitation. We had a situation once where one of our cats peed on the bed. I would have loved to have been able to bring the cover to be cleaned after that.

Yes … this is definitely a benefit and if it has wool in it then it can be put in the sun which will help refresh and activate the self cleansing abilities of the wool as well (although I would still clean it rather than “self cleanse” it in case of a pet accident :)).

Phoenix