If latex is out and polyfoams emit more VOCs and wool/cotton innerspring is too firm…what’s left?
We haven’t tried an all wool mattress, but I can only imagine that it, too, would be quite firm.
Anything I have overlooked?
Hi buttercupbetty,
Some ideas to throw out there:
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down / feather bed over plain spring mattress
E.g. St Geneve Luxury Goose Down Mattress Topper | Mattress & Sleep Co. -
intellibed / buckling column gel over plain spring mattress. Note you may need to do some surgery to remove any foam with a intellibed topper, and I don’t know if the gel is better/worse/same as polyfoam in terms of off gassing
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waterbed
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naturepedic (require adjustment to budget), bed or topper
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horse hair topper or mattress (very likely to require adjustment to budget, but it’s supposed to be very high end)
E.g. http://www.hastens.com/en-us/ -
workarounds, e.g. get a comfortable bed containing polyfoam, wrap in plastic as suggested by Phoenix, and put a quality 1.5-3" wool topper over that. I.e. Integrate the plastic wrap as a layer almost. (I’d probably put a dust mite cover or similar over the plastic so you cannot see it, but anyhow).
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more elaborate workaround, enclose only the polyfoam in plastic. This will require a local manufacturer building a custom bed, or, willingness to take apart a brand new bed. Anyhow, create a bed where the polyfoam is completely sealed, and within the mattress itself. You could make a similar polyfoam topper by ordering your own polyfoam, enclosing in plastic, and then enclosing that in a cotton topper cover. Whatever the case, I’d seperate yourself from the plastic enclosed poly with a generous layer of wool (probably an inch or more, but that just me thinking out loud how I’d try it).
Thanks dn!
Bedrooms and More also offers to air out mattresses before delivery. But plastic coverings are also an option. Sometimes not comfortable, though.
If I did a thick plastic layer to seal the mattress, as suggested by Phoenix, I’d bury it with a generous layer of wool to try to avoid the uncomfortable aspects of plastic. No idea how well that’d work, but I do have a 3" wool topper and it did significantly change the feel so I’d have hope that once there I’d not feel the plastic, and the wool would provide temperature regulation and moisture control … Especially with the plastic.
Buttercupbetty - Have you ever tried a waterbed? The ones they sell now aren’t like they were back in the way back when. I bought my first one in 1995 (late to the party, as usual). I bought a super single hard sided waterbed (just having gotten my 2nd divorce, I planned to sleep in the thing alone for the rest of my natural life). Things don’t work the way we plan (ever?), so of course I was involved with my 3rd husband before the bed was a year old, but thankfully sharing a super single wasn’t a bad thing.
Five years later, we had separate rooms (he snores) and I bought a queen hard sided waterbed. Still slept fine, especially since it was once again quiet. Problem with the old hard sided waterbeds is it’s impossible for me to prop in one and read for a couple of hours, and the older I got, the harder it became for me to get in and out of the bed.
Next I got rid of it (another 5 years gone) and bought a soft sided waterbed with a plush zip pillowtop cover. Great for reading - not so good for sleeping. I’m the only person I know of who thought a bed like that was too firm, but no number of times of adjusting the amount of water in it helped - so I added a featherbed. Felt great, but after a year or so the feathers started compressing and the baffles seemed to fail, and I was even older, so unmaking and fluffing and then remaking that #(%&@ bed every single day got to be more than I could deal with by this past summer, at which time I bit the financial bullet and bought a Dunlop latex mattress.
But . . . there were times the waterbeds felt great. My husband is now using the one I found too firm, and it’s perfect for him. The soft sided waterbeds are just like “real” beds in that you can sit on the edge, prop up to read, and regular size sheets fit them fine. I think they come with or without pillowtop designs (if I were doing it over again, I’d pass on the pillowtop). But - I don’t know what the material is that is holding the water (could be rubber, could be a type of plastic, I don’t know), so not knowing exactly what caused you to react to the bed you tried, that’d be a consideration I’m sure.
I also love featherbeds - in your position, I’d be tempted to think long and hard about a not-so-expensive bed and a very, very good down/featherbed to top it off. If the CozyPure LaNoodle topper I have ordered doesn’t soften my latex bed enough, my next purchase will be another featherbed - mine isn’t in great shape, but like everything else having to do with beds, the good ones are costly, so I thought I’d try the LaNoodle topper first (it was on sale) and then see if I still need a featherbed. I’m trying to keep an open mind, while hoping all the good sales on featherbeds aren’t gone by the time I know if I need one. A featherbed is one thing I know I like - it’s just hard for me to find one that’s soft enough that doesn’t cost more than $1000.
I hope you can find a good solution soon - I can only imagine your degree of frustration.
Hi buttercupbetty,
There are some very good suggestions here but I would also consider looking at the basics to see which materials you would be comfortable having in your mattress even if they aren’t ideal. The options you have (and some may be more difficult to find or may be in higher budget ranges) include …
Polyfoam: CertiPur certification would mean that there is little chance of offgassing and VOC’s that are harmful by most people’s standards although some people may not be comfortable with them or be more sensitive to VOC’s than the majority of the population. Most people who are OK with polyfoam in other furniture and household products would also be OK with them in their mattresses. there is also more about the two main chemicals used to make polyurethane foam (polyfoam) in post #2 here.
Memory Foam: Memory foam is a type of polyurethane foam with more chemicals added to give it a slow response and additional density so the previous comments about polyfoam would also apply although memory foam seems to affect some people more than polyfoam regardless of the certification.
Latex: From your tests it appears that you don’t have a type I allergy so it may just be a matter of having someone put the mattress together for you so you have no contact with the latex. You would have a choice here between 100% natural Talalay (which you appeared to react to but which may be OK if there is no contact), blended Talalay, 100% natural Dunlop, or blended or synthetic Dunlop. There are also some very soft continuous pour Dunlop versions available in either synthetic or 100% natural. All the latex you are likely to encounter of any type will have been tested for harmful substances and VOC’s either by Oeko-Tex or Eco-Iinstitut (which are more stringent tests than CertiPur) and would be “safe” by most people’s standards.
Natural fibers: This would include cotton, wool, and horsehair (which are generally found only in much more costly mattresses) along with feathers, down, and silk or any other natural plant or animal fibers. Firmness may be an issue here but this would vary with the specifics of the product and how it was made.
Rubberized Coir: Coir is a natural fiber that comes from coconut husks which would be “safe” and can sometimes be certified organic. Rubberized Coir is coated with latex to give it more spring and resilience and to help with water resistance. This is sometimes used as a firm support layer in a mattress or as an insulator material over innersprings.
Synthetic fibers: These are generally various types of polyester or Dacron fibers that are synthetic and usually not as durable as natural fibers but they can be fairly soft and non toxic. They are generally used in quilting layers or as a “down alternative” product in a “fiberbed” or topper.
Innersprings/Steel: This would be very unlikely to cause any issues. There are also microcoils that are used in comfort layers but they are generally used in combination with thin layers of foam above them. They come in a wide range of firmness levels but would also have some kind of padding over them. There are a few people who may have some concern with electromagnetic fields that they believe are generated by the coils in an innerspring (see the end of post #3 here).
PET densified fibers: There are some types of materials that use recycled PET fibers which have very little offgassing (see an example here and a manufacturer that uses it here) but these are synthetic materials and I don’t know the softness levels they have available.
Buckling Column Gel: These are also more costly and generally used with a layer of some type of foam above them but they are very pressure relieving and durable and “safe” in terms of VOC’s and offgassing.
Soft Solid gel materials: This is similar to the gel that is used for buckling column gel or added to other types of foam materials. It is very safe and has little to no offgassing but it is generally only used in thin layers because it can be quite firm (see post #4 here). An example of this would be Technogel but these is only used in combination with other components and foam materials and not as all the layers of a mattress.
Waterbed bladders: These are generally vinyl so you would need to know how comfortable you are with this. They can be soft sided or hard sided and used as just a water bladder or with additional comfort layers on top (usually some kind of foam). There are also some people that are concerned with the use of pthalates in any water or air bladders that use PVC materials (see post #2 here).
Airbed bladders: These are generally made from either vinyl (see the comments under waterbeds) or from rubber or in some cases urethane and also use various types of foam padding over them because it would be uncomfortable for most people to sleep directly on an air bladder.
You may also want to try testing some of the “ultra premium” innerspring / natural fiber mattresses listed at the end of post #4 here as a reference point just to see how soft a mattress that uses natural fibers can feel for you.
These are most of the materials and components you will encounter and once you have put together a list of what you would be comfortable or “OK” with using in a mattress (even if it’s not your perfect ideal) then you will be in a better position to know which direction to look.
Phoenix
Thanks for your thoughtful suggestions, Clawdia!
We’ll consider the idea of a waterbed, but it’s not really my first choice.
Hi buttercupbetty,
Certipur is the certification that you will usually find with polyfoam and memory foam in North America (although some of the European polyfoams and memory foams are OekoTex certified). While OekoTex certification is available for many products and materials … in most cases in North America you will only find OekoTex certification for latex or various types of fiber or fabrics or other non foam products (such as some mattress protectors).
Phoenix
I called the retail outlet for the Oregon Mattress Company (Bedco) and asked about their certifications, specifically CertiPUR. The salesman, Gary< said that he was under the impression that this certification was used for IMPORTED foams…not US.
Then I started searching on the internet and came across this:
Not trying to plug Essentia (I didn’t find their high price tag beds comfortable, personally). But I am confused! If Bedrooms And More doesn’t participate in these certifications, are they (certifications) really valuable? BNM seems to be a very reputable company
Hi buttercupbetty,
You can see a list of the foam manufacturers that participate in CertiPur here* which includes almost all the foam made in North America. I personally would have no “safety” issues with foams made in North America or offshore manufactured foams that are CertiPur certified although some people that are more sensitive or for other personal reasons may use different criteria than most other people to answer the question of “how safe is safe enough for me?”.
ADMIN NOTE: *Removed 404 link|Archived Footprint: certipur.us/pages/for-industry/find-a-foam-supplier/
There are many mattress manufacturers who use CertiPur certified foams even though they themselves have chosen not to go to the time and effort involved to be certified as a mattress manufacturer because the foams they use are already certified.
You can read more about Essentia in this thread and this thread and posts #3 and #4 here. The information and claims on their website are misleading and they are a manufacturer that I would be very cautious about considering.
Phoenix