Topper for blended Radium talalay mattress

We’re looking for a bit of softness and pressure relief for our latex mattress. My side is MMF, my wifes is SMF (S = 22-24 ILD, M = 30-32 ILD, F = 38-40 ILD). My wife adapted to it immediately, and I came around after some sleep position adjustment to accommodate an old thoracic injury. We’ve always liked the feel of pillow top mattresses at resorts like Caesar’s Palace. What options would accomplish that type of feel for us? Thanks for your thoughts…

Hi silphium,

There is more about choosing a topper in post #2 here and the topper guidelines it links to but if your mattress is already a good match for you in terms of PPP I’m not so sure that I would play with success because a latex mattress has a different feel from a typical pillowtop mattress and you won’t really be able to “match” something as subjective as “feel”.

I don’t know what is in the top layers of the Ceasar’s Palace mattress you slept on so I don’t know which type of topper would “approximate” it but some type of cheap eggcrate foam or a solid layer of soft polyfoam or a synthetic polyester fiber topper would probably be “somewhat close” to a similar “feel” although the tradeoff is that you will lose some of the “feel” and performance of the latex.

An inch or two of Talalay in a softer ILD than your top layer would give you some additional softness and pressure relief as well but may be somewhat risky in terms of alignment if your mattress is already a suitable match for you. A shredded latex topper may also give you some additional “cush” as well with less alignment risk but this will also have a different “feel” than a typical pillowtop that uses polyfoam or synthetic fibers in the pillowtop.

Phoenix

My recent experiments have made me realize that a stretch knit cover over latex feels a lot more pillowtop like than a wool/cotton cover over latex. It isn’t the same feel, but has a cushy feel I like. You can read about my experience here.

Hi Awoods,

Thanks for that info. Is yours a branded product you can point to? If not, about what is the thickness?

Hi Phoenix,

Thanks for being such a phenomenal source of mattress info… I think I’ll try the extrasoft 1" Talalay, at least for my wife’s side. Our bed is a king DIY, made up of extra long twins, so I can tweak each side independently. I really like this aspect of DIY latex… It allowed me to try numerous layering options before settling on the original MMF (I’m a back sleeper, 250lbs, 6"3").

On a possibly different topic, I have to sleep with my upper body angled up a small amount, or else wake with a back ache. This is true of most mattresses I’ve slept on, not just latex. Currently, I use pillows for this. Is there any ways to achieve a similar effect with changes to the latex? For instance, cutting and gluing in softer or firmer ILD pieces under my shoulders or back? Or gluing in an angled piece of Talalay? Thanks!..

Hi silphium,

The most effective way to achieve this would be an adjustable bed where you can adjust your sleeping position or with some kind of wedge under the mattress (something like these).

Phoenix

See here for a link to it and my description. It is the same ticking material they use for their own covers, and is quite thick. It was a great purchase. Not only is it protecting my mattress, but is also allowing me to experiment with different surface feels.