Hey Bill,
I just read an absolutely incredible write up by Phoenix 100% Natural Talalay vs Blended years ago on here where he gave all the pro’s and con’s and differences between the two. It was really great to learn about the two in so much detail. I always figured blended talalay had to be an inferior form of latex compared to it’s almost 100% natural form, but suprisingly that’s not always the case. In fact it can actually be superior in certain area’s and cheaper too. The off-gassing of the blended type I guess people don’t have to worry about since it carries the Oeko-Tex standard 100 certification. So that’s one really good thing you don’t have to worry about.
I helped my mom actually purchase and setup a blended latex mattress many years ago. I honestly don’t even remember smelling much of any thing from it and I know she never complained about the smell of it. Of course it was blended, so it was probably only like a 70/30 blend or something, so there would be a lot less natural rubber in it to smell. Yeah, I bet the off-gassing from an all memory foam mattress would be awful. I don’t think I would be able to stand it either. I’m not ultra sensative to smells in general if their natural, but if their unnatural or chemical smelling they would really bother me too. I already know just based off cleaning products I’ve used in the past, detergents, etc. They can give me headaches and trigger my asthma if I’m breathing them in for too long. The spring mattress I have now I think only came with 1" of memory foam on top, I wanted as little as possible. Of course it has also been way too firm so I haven’t really liked that part about it. I really should of bought a latex topper for it years ago. It’s about 8 years old now and on it’s last leg. So this time I’m going to do it right and just get an all latex mattress, whether it’s blended or 100% natural. I already know from laying on them a couple of times now their way more comfortable and pressure relieving on your body then what I’ve laid on in the past.
Take care