What's the downside of blended Talalay instead of 100% natural?

[gx240]

I’m looking to buy a 3" soft queen Talalay mattress topper. I tried out a 100% natural Talalay mattress topper at a friend’s house, and I like the feel. But they’re really expensive, and blended Talalay is a lot cheaper. What’s the downside? Does blended feel the same as 100% Talalay?

I asked a Brooklyn Bedding customer service representative about their blended Talalay, and she told me the following:

We use a blended Talalay Latex - the exact name is Talatech Latex, from a company called Latex International/Talalay Global.

The blended latex is a natural latex blended with natural fillers. There are no petroleum byproducts, but it is not categorized as organic latex. We use a Blended Talalay Latex layer that is 70% synthetic and 30% natural.

All synthetic materials are filler materials like sand, ground seashells, etc. Our latex is also Oeko-Tex Certified meaning that there are no toxic or harmful chemicals used in our material.

• Are their safety claims reasonable? Is blended safe?
• Are there are bad/dangerous additives ever used in blended Talalay that I should make sure to avoid?
• Are some companies making blended Talalay better than other? Any I should watch out for?
• Does blended Talalay feel the same as 100% Talalay?
• Is there some other downside of blended I’ve missed?

[NikkiTMU]

Hi gx240.

Welcome to our Mattress Forum.

The choice between different types and blends of latex is more of a preference and budget choice rather than a “better/worse” choice and any type or blend of latex will be a durable material relative to other types of foam materials. There is more about all the different types and blends of latex in post #6 here and there is more about how 100% natural Talalay compares to blended Talalay in post #2 here.

In terms of how they feel … some people would be able to tell the difference between blended Talalay and 100% natural Talalay and some people wouldn’t. It would be more likely that you would feel a difference if all the layers in a mattress were either one material or the other rather than just a single layer of each.

From Phoenix:

The bottom line is that I wouldn’t consider any type or blend of latex to be a weak link in a mattress but if you are looking at the softest versions of latex (with an ILD in the teens) and if the latex comes from Talalay Global then I would give the edge in terms of durability to blended Talalay vs 100% natural Talalay.

NikkiTMU

[blackhalo]

Is your friend’s topper soft or plush? I can tell you the organic plush topper I tried is way way softer, and by softer I mean less dense, than my Brooklyn Bedding soft topper. I don’t think, though I’m not certain, that they make blended Talalay that soft. So you would want to check with your friend to find the ILD of their topper first. It’s hard to relate firmness to other people without baseline objective facts. My BB topper is soft, squishy, somewhat supportive. It’s not entirely dense but it’s not extra soft. It’s good for side sleepers to sink in their hips/shoulders. If you can find a Naturepedic gallery they have extra soft/plush. And if you try that, and you think it’s what you want, then I can say you probably won’t be happy with the BB. But I can also say the organic plush is so soft that it offers little to no support. It lacks density and bounce. Am not a professional or anything but I’ve been shipping for over a month and imo density is much more important than material.