Mattress Forum

When you say 100% natural latex are you saying:

• I want 100% of the material in this bed (except the covers/quilting) to be made of latex rubber... OR
• I want whatever latex is used to be 100% natural vs. blend or synthetic latex?

This is a HUGE tactic the mattress industry uses to confuse and therefore sell more beds that are not what  the custoemr wants. If you want all latex (with merely a binding cover for look, etc) yo will pay more than if you want 100% natural latex in the top 2" while the rest of the bed is made of some polyurethane variation base/core foam. I sell latex mattresses and have dealt with a number variations on this. Here are a few pointers:

• Latex is like gold, the purer (100% natural sap from a rubber tree) it is the less consistent it is
• Latex can either use "fillers" to stabilize the material (silica, etc) or it can use synthetic latex (same chemical composition, just man-made rather than from a tree)... some fillers are absolutely required in order to process into a foam, by the way
• Like gold 10k is stronger, less "gold" in color and typically hollowed out... 24k is much softer, more "gold" in color and even when solid, can easily bend
• 14k gold, however is a pretty great blend of fillers and color and strength giving the owner a strong, pretty and long-lasting piece of jewelry
• Latex blends are the same. NASCAR tires are 100% natural rubber (dunlop) with exceptional grip, but they are only good for a certain number of laps or miles whereas passenger vehicles use a blend of latex and other agents to provide, durability, distance and grip
• A latex bed that is ALL latex is a mattress with the same number of inches of latex as the bed is thick (11" profile = 11" of latex = ALL LATEX MATTRESS)
• This latex could be 100% natural and green or organic = SUPER EXPENSIVE... Twin around $1200-$200 depending on organic/green
• It could be blends, synthetic, high filler content but still be 11" of latex still resulting in an entire mattress of latex
• The flip side helps reduce the cost... a sturdy and durable base foam under a layer (or layers) of latex like 1", 3" or 5" layers, can reduce the overall cost since there is less latex, even though the latex maybe purer than an all latex bed with more fillers in the actual latex rubber foam... yo could literally get a 100% natural latex bed with only 1" of latex and 5" of soy-based foam core (a polyurethane blended with soy)... Twin around $700 - $900

I know it is a lot of info, but the term 100% natural is very deceptive and many sleep consultants do not even know the difference...

Hope this helps! Sleep Well "mkygod"!

What the mattress industry refers to as synthetic latex is called Styrene Butadiene, natural rubber or natural latex is made of isoprene (methyl butadiene base)...they are two completely different polymer materials with different properties. It may sound like a small difference...but chemistry is complex...consider that two molecules of oxygen binded together gives us oxygen in the form we breathe it in and gives us life.  3 molecules of oxygen gives us ozone and can take your life away.

No tires, including nascar tires are pure natural rubber, there are all sorts of other chemicals used that determine the hardness and elasticity of the end product; even in passenger car tires there are different polymer materials used than just NR or SBR, they all give different properties. You would be correct if you mean that the only polymer material that is used in a race cars tires is real natural rubber, ironically for all the complete opposite reasons the mattress industry tells us that synthetic blends are better (durability, consistency) are the reasons that only pure natural rubber is used in race car tires and airplane tires...safety.  Natural rubber is actually more stable than any other polymer material around...its only weakness compared to SBR is its resistance to petrochemicals over time...this is the only reason SBR is used in passenger car tires, the long term exposure to gasoline vapours and oils that are in pavement and all over our roads is really hard on natural rubber. These are not issues that a mattress has to deal with thankfully.  When it comes to compression set resistance (resistance to hysteresis), overall elasticity and elongation qualities, natural rubber tree milk outperforms other polymer materials dramatically. Where the consistency issues actually come from are mostly out of date manufacturing techniques, or due to being long distance from rubber plantations, perhaps even buying hevea milk from many different regions around the globe and using it all in the same batch; its hard to be consistent making latex this way without using SBR.  

You are totally correct... I was attempting to simplify the details, but in retrospect, it is the differences that create different response to the sleeper. Thanks for the clarification (and extra info I did not know the actual details of!), Budgy. Have a great day!
 

Cheers ;)

And thank you for all of your helpful input and advice on here as well!

Samsclub has an example of what you're looking for.  Their "american sleep organic mattress" is all natural talalay with organic cotton/wool etc. for $1048 (same price for either twin or twinXL).

1" x 18ild, 2" x 24ild, 6" x 30ild.

Thanks,

Sherry

Polyurethane foams are by weight made up usually 2/3 by a petro-chemical called TDI (or in some less common cases MDI), the other 1/3rd of the weight is polyol (a form of alcohol acting as a binding agent).  And a blowing agent used to aerate the mixture into foam, the blowing agent makes up almost none of the weight but different blowing agents give the foam different properties (memory foam uses different blowing agents than standard polyurethane foams).  Soy based, castor based, plant based whatever foam replaces a portion of the polyol content of the foam.  Could be as little of 5% of the polyol portion or as much as 50% of the polyol is the highest I have heard of.  Even @ 50% of the polyol we are talking about 16~18% of the weight of the foam would be natural in content.