I will not go through the details of my mattress search and shopping experience over the last year. I am a hot sleeper, 120 pounds woman who sleeps on her side. I needed hip pain relief and heat relief. After very extensive search and shopping I found the mattress solution that worked for me the best. I gave up on memory foam for too hot and for too soft. I found the Saatva mattress very nice and kept it in one of my guest bedrooms for my youngest daughter, while upgrading my sleep to a Zenhaven. I am very happy with the Zenhaven and said daughter really appreciates the Saatva (but she recognizes she can sleep great anywhere). Right now I need a really good pillow, and this is very, very critical. I am also shopping for a new mattress for my second guest bedroom that is used by my oldest daughter: she likes something softer and I feel that she may find the Saatva hybrid a bit too hard on her.
I started the pillow search with a shredded Talalay latex. I adjusted the amount of latex in the pillow to my needs, but I found the pillow too soft. Also very disturbing was that the pillow would get flat through the night and I had to keep adjusting its contents to my neck support needs. Given my good experience with Saatva/Zenhaven I ordered the new pillow that Saatva is now offering. I was so hopeful that it would be the perfect choice, but that was not the case. It is true that this pillow is not hot but I definitely need a better neck support. It also flattens through the night and I had to give up on it. Then I got the Luma latex firm pillow. I also ordered the sheets/pillows to go with it and I had tentatively decided that Luma latex mattress might be the choice for my oldest daughter who is coming to visit in the next couple of weeks. The pillow arrived and I was disgusted with the strong smell. I went online to chat with customer support: I was told the smell should go away within one day. It has been 3 days now and the smell persists. Of course there is no way I can even âsleep-testâ this pillow: it has been airing in the hopes the smell will eventually subside (and I have it popped up so that the air circulates), to no avail. At this point I am scared about ordering the Luma latex mattress for my daughter: I cannot afford the effort to bring a heavy box to the second floor bedroom (I am not that young and strong), I do not have the time to wait for a strong smell to subside, and I do not want to play the âreturn-the-mattress-in-a-heavy-boxâ game.
So, I need help finding a pillow that will give me good neck support. I cannot even tell that the configuration of the Luma pillow will do that because I was unable to put it under my head to try it out: again, the smell is just disgusting. I wonder, is it because this is blended Talalay?
I also need help finding a mattress that will provide good support for a young and athletic side sleeper (my daughter) who would not accept to go to bed on a stinky mattress.
Hello MLS,
Luma Sleep has escalated your concern to the President of the company as he gets personally involved in each and every customer complaint. He should be reaching out to you in an email today.
We would like for you to return the Talalay latex pillow for a full refund. It will be sent to Talalay Global for analysis.
Luma Sleep has been in contact with Talalay Global about your concern over the rubber odor. TG has informed us that they have recently changed their manufacturing process to allow for a minimum of 4 hours before a pillow is compressed for packaging. âFreshly producedâ pillows go through a 5-stage wash/drying process. TG has determined the pillows need the added time to completely cool and âair outâ before being compressed and packaged. It seems reasonable to speculate that you are not the only customer who has expressed concern over an odor with the pillows.
In response to your question, the odor is not from the blended formula. The man-made SBR rubber used in the natural/synthetic blend has no odor. We believe it to be a by-product of other ingredients in the latex formula, the same ingredients that are used in both the 100% natural and blended latex formulas. The Talalay latex that Luma Sleep uses in its mattresses and pillows comes from the same factory and Talalay manufacturing process used by Zenhaven and Saatva. We respect your apprehension in purchasing a Luma mattress based on your experience with the pillow. Luma Sleep has not had a single mattress return based on the odor of the latex used in its mattresses. There are other sources of latex mattresses who are also members of The Mattress Underground, some which use Talalay latex from Talalay Global and several others who use natural latex made with the Dunlop process in Indonesia. Perhaps you will be more comfortable making your mattress purchase for your guest bedroom through one of them.
Thank you for the feedback!
Team Luma
Thank you, Steve. I really appreciate the frank discussion with you and the excellent customer service by Luma.
As for a different latex provider rather than Talalay, I am not considering the Dunlop option because it is denser and I am looking for a softer feel. You said no customers raised odor issues on the Luma mattress. I will trust your word on that and most likely will be placing an order for a Queen mattress.
On the other hand you recognized that I was not the only customer who raised concerns over the pillow odor. On this regard I am really puzzled about the length of time for the odor to go away. I wonder, for how long would a customer have to wait until the pillow becomes odor-free? I mean, at what point should I give up?
Hello MLS,
Thank you for your trust in and support of Luma Sleep! This is not Steve, although he does get an email notice from me of all my TMU responses from Luma Sleep.
Odor sensitivities can be as unique as each person. Some people are very sensitive while others not very sensitive at all. The extent of the odor and the perception of it also have an impact. For example, in my case, the smell of a new car or the fresh plastic smell of a new baby doll are chemical odors I like, whereas certain menâs colognes make me sick. I do not like it when the car and baby doll smell go away, but I canât stay in the same room with some men and their odor! ;-). Most odors will reduce and then essentially go away over time. In reality, the odor probably never goes away completely, but reduces to a level that it is no longer noticeable.
To answer your question regarding how long it will be before you no longer have to experience the unpleasant odor you experience from a latex pillow, or for that matter any product, we recommend a day or two. If itâs still concerning you after a few days, get rid of it and get your money back!
Hope this helps!
Team Luma
I use the pillow that I received with my mattress from Flexus Comfort. It is a latex pillow, but it is not shredded. To me it seems to compress just the right amount and never flattens out.
Thanks Schenkelini for noting one of the significant differences between a real molded Talalay latex pillow and the shredded latex pillows that some companies sell and/or giveaway as a latex pillow. Shredded latex is ground up latex waste from pieces of latex that are cut from latex cores. It does not provide the support of a molded latex pillow. When buying a latex pillow, it is important to clarify that you are getting a molded pillow.
Team Luma
Glad to Read
Thanks Oliviagreorge98. Luma Sleep appreciates your support!
Very informative stuff. Keep it up!