Natural Dunlop vs Natural Talalay Heat Retention

My wife and I are finally getting around to replacing our 20+ year old inner spring and are lost in all the possible choices.

We believe we have settled on a latex mattress kit from sleep ez but now are stuck on the final decision of Natural Dunlop vs Natural Talalay. Based on everything we have read we think that the Dunlop sounds better because we both like extremely firm beds that don’t really let you sink in.

Our only concern is that we have read that the Talalay breathes considerably better. My wife tends to be a warm sleeper and this is definitely a key factor. Is Dunlop really that much worse in holding in heat that we should go with Talalay in spite of liking almost every other property of Dunlop better?

Hi darktoaster,

I would keep in mind that Dunlop isn’t firmer than Talalay unless you are comparing the same ILD. Both of them come in a wide range of firmness levels so firm Talalay can be much firmer than softer Dunlop and vice versa.

While it’s true that Talalay is more breathable than Dunlop … there are many factors involved in the sleeping temperature of a mattress and in a mattress that uses wool in the quilting, isn’t too soft, and where your mattress protector, sheets, or bedding don’t add to temperature issues, temperature regulation wouldn’t be an issue for “most” people with either of them. You can read more about some of the factors that can affect sleeping temperature in post #2 here.

Phoenix

While a dense foam certainly harbors less air than a spring mattress, it can also be very breathable. A while back, Latex International did a demonstration of airflow between latex, memory foam, and poly foam. The picture here captures it and shows how well air can move through latex compared to the other types of foam. Is It Better To Sleep Flat On Your Back?

Deborah