Something between a PLB Nature and a PLB Nutrition?

Tested the Pure Latex Bliss Nature and Nutrition models. Nature felt like it gave good support, but I worry about pressure point issues after a full night sleep. Nutrition had better pressure point relief, but I noticed my hips sinking ever so slightly, which makes me worry about back pains from lack of support. I’m coming from a tempurpedic simplicity medium which after one year leaves me with pain from lack of support in the hip area.

Is there something with the support of the PLB Nature, but the softness of the Nutrition?

Hi Automaton,

“Technically” or at least according to the PLB rating system … the Nutrition is a little firmer than the Nature. They used to have a “mattress plushness scale” on their site (you can see the page on the wayback machine here)and the Nutrition was rated as a 7 and the Nature as an 8. The Nutrition has what’s called a “dominating” layer with 3" of 27 ILD latex in the top layer over 2" of 19 ILD while the Nature has 2" of 21 ILD over 2" of 28 ILD. Both of these are on a 6" 36 ILD base layer (you can see the PLB specs here).

The Nutrition “feels” softer for many people because of the thicker comfort layers and thickness and ILD both contribute to softness. Which mattress “feels” softer can depend on body type, sleeping position, and on subjective perception.

Primary support comes from the deeper layers of a mattress so both of these have exactly the same support (36 ILD) but are different in the comfort layers which provides pressure relief and secondary support which fills in the gaps in the sleeping profile. There is more about this in post #4 here. If two mattresses are roughly “equal” then I would lean towards the firmer of the two or in this case the one that has the thinner comfort layer (even though it’s technically softer) because you can always add a topper if you need extra softness or thickness to improve pressure relief (if necessary after you have slept on it for long enough for the mattress to break in and you have a good idea of your long term sleeping experience) but you can’t firm up or remove layers that are already too soft or too thick.

There are no PLB models in the line that are in between these two.

Of course here may also be other latex mattresses made by other manufacturers available to you that are a good match for you in terms of PPP that may also be worth considering depending on the area you live.

This isn’t surprising because the quality/density of the memory foam in the Simplicity is low (around 3 lbs or less) and it would soften much more quickly … especially under heavier parts of the body like the pelvis … than higher quality/density materials.

Phoenix

Thanks for the valuable insight. Any specific non-PLB recommendations I should test out in line with what was discussed so far? Otherwise I will likely go with the Nature. By the way, my location is about 20 miles north of down town Los Angeles, Ca.

Hi Automaton,

Some of the better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Greater Los Angeles area are listed in post #2 here.

Phoenix

Automaton,
I purchased The PLB Beautiful from CGMattress they will deliver and offer a comfort period in the Los Angeles Area and was by far the best price I could find. Its been a great sleep however its a little too soft for me and will either get the Nutrition or an innercoil with a topper.

Automaton,
As Phoenix mentioned the softness numbering system that PLB uses can be a bit goofy, but just in case you didn’t go through the link he provided in his post, here’s how they used to list their talalay beds on a softness scale (1-10, 1 being hard, 10 being soft).
Pamper - 4
Nature - 7
Nutrition - 8 (although I think most people think it to be a tad harder than the Nature, FWIW)
Beautiful - 9
World’s Best Bed - 10

The Nature, Nutrition, Beautiful and the WBB all use the same core support. The Pamper uses about a 10% higher ILD core.

Hope that helps.
-Jeff

Automatron,
My wife and I came to almost the same conclusion as you did about PLB’s Nature and Nutrition. I knew the specs of both mattresses before we tried them out and was expecting the Nutrition to feel firmer. We felt that the Nutrition was softer and not as supportive as the Nature. My hips, I weigh ~185 lbs., sank down into the Nutrition, too much. I knew from past experience that this would result in lower back pain. We went with the Nature because it will be in our guest room. I tried it out for a week and it feels perfect to me.

BobP