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Hi Manimal,
As you know I can’t speak to which mattress would be the “best” option for any particular person in terms of PPP because there are too many unknowns and variables involved … but the two you mentioned and the SleepEZ KISS mattress are the only three at the moment that don’t have any “cautions” about the quality/density or durability of their materials for any weight range and any of them would certainly make a very durable choice although all of them will have a different “feel” and some people may well prefer one of them over the other.
There is also more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here that can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses.
None of these mattresses are organic and from my perspective I would consider all of them to be “safe” although I recognize that different people may have different definitions of what that means. The most reliable source of this type of information about any specific mattress would be a conversation with the manufacturer about the specific mattress you are considering but as far as I know both Brooklyn Bedding BestMattressEver and the Love Bed use the same fire barrier which is a silica/rayon inherent fabric probably with some polyester as well. You can see Brooklyn Bedding’s answer to this question on their support page here. I would also have no safety concerns with the similar inherent fire barrier sock used in the Kiss mattress. While you will never be able to find out the exact chemical composition of an inherent fire barrier … none of them use Boric Acid (which is generally added to cotton to make it fire resistant so the fire retardant properties aren’t “inherent”).
Phoenix
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Hi Manimal,
One of the dangers of making “broad brush” assumptions about very complex topics when you aren’t a chemical engineer that understands complex chemistry or manufacturing processes (which would include me) is that they are almost always incorrect or at best only partly correct. Once of these assumptions are that all boron compounds are the same or used in the same way.
Boron itself is a nutrient that is required by the human body in small amounts and the most common form of Boron is borate salts which come in many forms and has many uses.
There are also different methods of using various compounds such as boron, boric acid, or borate salts or other chemical compounds in manufacturing. They can be included in the viscose dope of rayon before it is made into a fiber or be added into the copolymerization process that is involved in making polyester fiber. These types of manufacturing methods mean that the individual chemicals are usually inert and chemically bound together and not generally subject to migration out of the fiber. They can also be added to a fabric after the manufacturing either in the form of a coating, a spray, or liquid immersion in which case they would generally be more subject to migration out of the fabric with use or washing.
Unless you know the specific chemical composition of a fire barrier and how it was manufactured (such as whether it is part of the chemical structure of the fabric or coated etc) then there isn’t any way for a consumer to really know whether their assumptions about “chemicals in a material” or the safety of the material are accurate.
The reality of the industry is that mattress manufacturers aren’t given the specific chemical composition of the fire barriers they use or what was added to the rayon or polyester fabrics that they may be using since this is usually proprietary to the manufacturer. This isn’t about being “evasive” but is about only being able to provide you with the information they are given. Most “silica” based fire barriers that use silica as the char producing backbone of the fabric would be “safe enough” for most people.
While I understand your desire to avoid harmful chemicals in a mattress … you are likely looking for ways to differentiate between them that aren’t practical, meaningful, or even accurate and will leave you susceptible to making choices based on oversimplified information that you may be given that really isn’t completely accurate. In almost all cases … inherent fire barriers would be “safe” but if for personal reasons you are looking for greater levels of assurance then trying to identify every chemical in a fire barrier won’t be possible and I would generally suggest looking for fire barriers that use natural or organic wool only which don’t have any additional chemicals added to them even though this would increase the budget range of the mattresses that will meet your “safety” criteria. It would also be rather unusual for someone to be worried about these types of fire barriers with a mattress that uses synthetic or semi synthetic fabrics which are even closer to your skin and that also use polyfoam which also includes synthetic chemicals (which are also copolymerized and are generally “stable” and “safe” for most people as well).
Jones also makes a wide range of fire barriers that are made in different ways (see this article and the information about their T-Bond here).
As far as I’m aware the Love Bed and The BestMattressEver both use the same type of fire barrier regardless of how they may be described to you and both of them would certainly be “safe enough” for the large majority of people outside of those few who for personal or lifestyle reasons or because of unique health challenges that are specific to them would be more comfortable choosing a mattress that didn’t use any synthetic chemicals at all and would likely choose an organic mattress or a mattress that only uses natural materials that they are comfortable with,
Phoenix
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Hi Manimal,
When you are looking at this level of detail your best source of information may be a phone call to Jones Fibers so you can ask them your more specific questions and hopefully they can provide you with answers that will satisfy you (or not). They make many types of fire barriers including fire barriers that are non topically treated.
From the article I linked in my last reply …
Phoenix
PS: FWIW … there are no boron chemicals on the California Proposition 65 list
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Hi Phoenix,
I was able to reach out to Jones Fiber last week… as of June 1st- at least with respect to R&S Mattress/Brooklyn Bedding- they are no longer using the Boric Acid treated fiber in their mattress fire barriers. According to the administrative person, this is partially due to some “recent legislation”… not sure about that but she got me in touch with one of the “tech” guys who confirmed the mattress FRB’s are now inherent rayon/silica. He gave me the "general’ breakdown of the composition and I was satisfied with the description/explanation (didn’t even feel the need to write it down).
He also mentioned they didn’t have a chance to update the website yet (it pretty much just gives information about Boron/Boric Acid). I feel like I was on the right track and it’s good to see they’re moving to a better/less controversial solution (at least IMO). It would be nice if BB were able to provide a little “color”/information so that it wasn’t necessary to reach out to their vendor but even so, I was happy to delete my previous posts which are now pretty much irrelevant.
At this point, I do think the the Best Mattress Ever is probably the best overall value in this new category of mattress, at least on paper, based on the materials/construction and amount of latex in the mattress. I do realize that everyone’s equation is going to be different with respect to price and PPP, but to have 4 inches of latex and other high quality materials in this price range is really impressive.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents FWIW… at least I would now feel totally comfortable going with the BME if I decide to take that path.
Thanks,
Manimal
Hi Manimal,
[quote]I was able to reach out to Jones Fiber last week… as of June 1st- at least with respect to R&S Mattress/Brooklyn Bedding- they are no longer using the Boric Acid treated fiber in their mattress fire barriers. According to the administrative person, this is partially due to some “recent legislation”… not sure about that but she got me in touch with one of the “tech” guys who confirmed the mattress FRB’s are now inherent rayon/silica. He gave me the "general’ breakdown of the composition and I was satisfied with the description/explanation (didn’t even feel the need to write it down).
He also mentioned they didn’t have a chance to update the website yet (it pretty much just gives information about Boron/Boric Acid). I feel like I was on the right track and it’s good to see they’re moving to a better/less controversial solution (at least IMO). It would be nice if BB were able to provide a little “color”/information so that it wasn’t necessary to reach out to their vendor but even so, I was happy to delete my previous posts which are now pretty much irrelevant.
At this point, I do think the the Best Mattress Ever is probably the best overall value in this new category of mattress, at least on paper, based on the materials/construction and amount of latex in the mattress. I do realize that everyone’s equation is going to be different with respect to price and PPP, but to have 4 inches of latex and other high quality materials in this price range is really impressive.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents FWIW… at least I would now feel totally comfortable going with the BME if I decide to take that path.[/quote]
Thanks for sharing the information from your conversation with Jones Fiber … I appreciate it 
Phoenix