Search Results For "horsehair"

What we have to remember when investigating mattresses is before we decide if a mattress is good or not, we have to be 100 percent educated on its innards.  As for horsehair being such a cool idea for a really expensive mattress, I say bunk.  Gimmick, people.  I have horses, I have horsehair:  mane, tail, body hair, and NONE if it is all that soft.  The mane and tail is quite thick and dense and wirey.  There have been saddle pads made with horsehair matted down, but they are not soft and forgiving.  I believe that back when folks started to make beds they used what they had available  in order to make something work....like we do today!  The first ones were stuffed with straw.  Some were stuffed with horsehair simply due to its availability.  Horses shed twice a year, fall and spring.  Fall's shedding is very light....lose their fine...

Over the course of the last six months or so that I have been investigating mattresses, and finally winding up buying a latex mattress, I have given this subject a lot of thought.

It is my opinion that if you could find the right set of springs, manufactured with the right quality and quantity of cotton and wool, and possibly some other synthetic materials, a mattress that was flippable so that you could keep redistributing the ware factor, and it was properly put together by people who really knew what they were doing, and cared about what they were doing, and not trying to just make the most money out of their project, then you would have a really great mattress.

There are a few old-time mattress manufacturers still in business that try to do this. Some of these companies like the expensive Hastings (SP) company in Sweden, (they use horsehair cotton...

cityskies wrote:
Just thought I would give you another reply on this one....I think if you want to get a really good quality American made mattress and mostly filled with cotton batting.  You really ought to check out a brand called Royal-Pedic.

http://www.royal-pedic.com/

One of their reps actually made a visit to my store to see if we would carry their product.  I have to say if I didn't have spacing restrictions at the moment I was ready to floor atleast a couple of their beds.  And some day I...

think of it as body indentations that you can indefinitely keep on 'temporarily repairing'.  However, as far as my understand this is only a feature that Hastens uses (the ability to 'massage' or re-fluff the upholstery layers). And I will also mention that basically every other brand I have seen that also uses horsehair uses it in very small amounts or it is used in conjunction with a lot of other materials without the same basic properties.  I really do believe in reality nothing holds it's shape better than latex, I have actually done quite a few service things for people in their homes (flipping cores, adjustable base maintenance, etc) and sometimes inspecting latex mattress for excessive body indentations.  With removable covers we always take them off so we know what exactly is sagging, I have NEVER seen an indentation deeper than maybe .25~.5" in a core, but the covers...

Horsehair isn't meant to be super soft.  It is used in place of cotton batting because it releases moisture much more efficiently and is springier and more resilient.  Because it easily releases moisture into the environment apparently horsehair does not maintain the level of moisture required for dust mites to live in it.  The stuff that Hastens uses basically is only the hair taken from the mane and the tails, they don't use the rest of the horsehair as it is lacking the same ability to deal with with the moisture.   I can definitely understand people being weirded out by the thought of sleeping on it, but yet look at basically any good quality latex bed and they are all quilted with wool , is one of these animals dirtier than the other?  I personally really do not see horsehair as being a gimmick, is it really expensive? Heck yes. ...

horsehair itself is supposed to be very resilient and springy.  im sure they are quite supportive.  but basically you order your springs custom to your needs. ...

Budgy and others, do you have thoughts on Shifman, basic level (e.g., the Shifman Chateau, which is a firm all-cotton innerspring with minimum padding)? I heard the original family sold the company several years ago and since then the quality has suffered, but haven't been able to verify. Am trying to decide between this and a horsehair innerspring....

budgy wrote:

Thanks, Budgy! This makes a lot of sense. I might PM you w some follow-up questions so as not to bombard everyone else w my specific qs that might not be applicable to all....

Budgy (and anyone else with insights :-), I have a follow-up question to your post re: horsehair. After learning that latex wasn't compatible with my back, I decided to go back to innerspring and have been considering a horsehair mattress (a more affordable version of Hastens). From from my research, including older posts from an earlier version of this forum, I learned that Hastens and other horsehair mattresses needed to be regularly fluffed/massaged/etc. as they flatten out over time too -- yet at the same time folks say that horsehair is one of the best materials to minimize body impressions. Aren't body impressions formed precisely when mattresses flatten out under pressure so if horsehair has to be fluffed, aren't they forming body impressions (even if the body impressions can be 'fluffed' away)? Can you please resolve this seeming contradiction for me? I might just not be getting...

Wow budgy, that's an awesome bed! horsehair, hun? That's the bed the Queen sleeps on? I found an air bed with cashmere.....

I saw a great pic at  www.coolhunting.com  

I myslf am still looking, saw specialty beds built for us bigger people.

Right now I'm sleeping on a twin mattress from Big Lots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate it but I HAVE to get some sleep, I'm going nuts.

Alice...