I am looking to purchase a new 100 percent latex mattress. I am 5’9 170lbs and my wife is 5’3 120 lbs. I am a back sleeper and she is a side/back sleeper. I am not sure when mattress to purchase. Is there a remarkable difference between 9" or 10 " mattress. How about 2 layer, 6 and 3 inch versus 3 layer which is 3 / 3 inch layers. Not sure on firmness or should I split a layer due to different sleeping patterns or would one density be ok. Also any difference in Talalay versus dunlop for the latex. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Hi brentrubin and welcome to the forums and thanks for reaching out on this! Based on the information you’ve provided, I would normally recommend the 10" organic mattress from Sleep EZ - https://sleepez.com/product/organic-latex-mattress/ with soft Talalay over medium Dunlop over firm Dunlop for both sides of the mattress. The top Talalay layer should provide all the contour and pressure relief needed to avoid any pressure point issues and will add secondary support to the mattress. Secondary support is needed to fill in the gaps between your body and the mattress – back sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between the small of their back and the mattress; side sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between their mid-section and the mattress, and stomach sleepers normally need this under their belly or in their upper shoulder / clavicle area. If these parts of a person’s body aren’t supported by the mattress, their muscles will work throughout the night to hold these parts of the body up, and by the time they wake up they’ve got back pain. So the top 3” of Talalay latex will provide contour, pressure relief, and secondary support. The remaining Dunlop layers should provide all the support needed to maintain proper spinal alignment and avoid back pain. Please keep in mind that our initial recommendations have a 90% success rate (we only have a 10% layer exchange rate and a 3%-4% return rate) so there’s a 90% chance that the above recommendation works perfectly for you.
Even though both sides would be the same, I would still recommend splitting all of your layers. About 95% of our mattresses go out with all split layers from top to bottom, and we get zero complaints on being able to feel the split and we get zero complaints about the layers shifting or anything like that. If all of your layers are split, you will always be able to adjust your side without affecting your partner’s side and vice versa, and you’ll have that option for the entire 20 year lifespan of the mattress. Additionally, the mattress will be easier to assemble, easier to move if needed, easier to do any layer exchanges if needed, and easier to return if needed. There really are no downsides to having all split layers.
The 10” mattress is definitely our most popular, which has three 3” layers and one inch of wool in the cover. The 9” mattress has two 3” layers and a top layer that is 2” thick, then an inch in the cover. The top layer in the mattress is normally the softest layer, so the 9” mattress is firmer and more supportive than the 10” mattress. In your mattress, for example, you would only get 2” of soft Talalay and 2” of medium Talalay in the 9” whereas the 10” would get you 3” of soft and 3” of medium, making for a softer feel than the 9”. Women tend to be curvier around their hips, and having 3” of Talalay on top helps ensure their hips sink in to the mattress far enough that they don’t get any hip pain. Also, if their hips don’t sink into the mattress far enough, the mattress can actually push their hips up which can their off their spinal alignment. Also, the 9” mattress can be more difficult to do layer exchanges for because we would need to know in advance what layer you want to replace because we would need to know if we’re sending you a 2” or 3” layer. In the 10” mattress, by contrast, we know we’re going to send you a 3” layer no matter what and you can try tons of different combinations with the 3” layers to try different firmnesses and get the mattress dialed in. So there definitely are more advantages to the 10” versus the 9”. However, this is absolutely your mattress and however you’d like to order is completely up to you.
Here’s a summary of the differences between Talalay and Dunlop - In short, Talalay is better at avoiding hip pain and shoulder pain and is better at filling in the gaps between your body and the mattress, which is called secondary back support and is important to avoiding back pain. Dunlop is normally used for the core of the mattress as the main source of primary back support.
Here’s a detailed explaination on the differences between Talalay and Dunlp (fair warning there is some redundancy with the information below and some of the info I included above) -
There is a noticeable difference between Talalay and Dunlop, and it’s not really that Talalay is softer than Dunlop. Most people and companies say Talalay is softer just because that’s an easier way to explain it. You can actually have a soft Dunlop layer that’s softer or firmer than a soft Talalay and a medium Talalay that’s softer or firmer than a medium Dunlop, etc. The real difference comes down to how they react when being compressed. Talalay is bouncier and springier and is generally better at contour and pressure relief on your hips and shoulders. Dunlop is denser and is generally better at support and maintaining proper spinal alignment so our most common configuration is Talalay for the top layer and Dunlop for the bottom 2 layers. We will recommend Talalay for two or more layers for customers that have things like fibromyalgia, shingles, chronic hip pain, chronic shoulder pain, or anything where they’re sensitive to pressure, or for customers that just prefer a bouncier / springier feel. Outside of those circumstances, a combination of Talalay and Dunlop offers the best chance to be successful for the average person. Again, the best way I can summarize the differences would be to say that Talalay is better at pressure relief on your hips and shoulders and Dunlop is better at maintaining proper spinal alignment and avoiding back pain. However, Talalay can also be helpful in avoiding back pain because it provides more of what we call secondary support. Secondary support fills in the gaps between your body and the mattress. For side sleepers, this is normally the area between a person’s ribs and waist. For back sleepers, this is normally the area between the small of your back and the mattress. If these parts or your body aren’t being held up by the mattress, your muscles will work all night to hold those parts of your body up, which can lead to back pain. Aside from that, women tend to be curvier, especially around their hips, and having a top layer of Talalay can help avoid hip pain and keep the mattress from pushing their hips up, which can also lead to back pain. As such, most of our customers definitely benefit from having one layer of Talalay on top, and Dunlop for the rest of the mattress, but it’s completely up to you what you would like to order.
Regarding your question on a 2-layered 6" or 7" mattress - Customer’s normally choose a 7” mattress either because of the price point or because they prefer a firmer mattress. A 2-layered mattress is normally “all pressure relief” or “all back support” but it’s hard to get a good or ideal combination of both.