Mattress Forum

Do you wear nylon stockings?  Use rubber nipples on baby bottles?  Oh look, the sky is falling!

GK

Sleeping on that mattress night after night really rubbed in the fact (literally) that synthetic latex is made of petroleum/petrochemical derivatives.  At best, the mattress has what can be described as a "chemical" odor - at worst, the odor smelled similar to gasoline (I think the odor takes on the quality of gasoline when it is "concentrated" - i.e. when the mattress has little ventilation.  When I packed up the mattress to return to the company, my mother was stunned at the noxious/gasoline-like odor wafting from the boxes.)  

Apparently, I found out the hard way that the latex mattress is in general a pretty unstable object; from the time it's  manufatured, and especially from the time you unpackage it and expose it to air - it is in a perpetual process of "breaking down", or disintegrating.  Over a period of weeks, you can even see where cracks, pits, and little "divots" appear on the mattress - imperfections that weren't there when the mattress first arrived.  It seems that direct exposure to UV light, allegedly - speeds up the process; but even when it is encased, it slowly disintegrates.  (The "selling point" of these mattresses is that it supposedly takes years before the disintegration reaches the point where the mattress starts to fail.)  I suppose this explains the off-gassing/fumes - at least in part.  In the process of disintegrating, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released - the fumes.  

Mattress companies like to pretend that the offgassing is temporary.  It's up to the consumer to figure out that the promise of temporary offgassing is a lie - especially in the case of latex mattresses.  The characteristics of latex mattresses -you know, the characteristics that they don't tell you about - translate into permanent offgassing.  Consumers vary in their sensitivity to this offgassing - some may barely notice it, while others find it absolutely intolerable (and I suppose that the quality of the mattress also comes into play here - though I believe that ALL latex, polyurethane foam, and memory foam mattresses WILL off-gass).  

The thing about latex mattresses is that the odor is such that it seems to penetrate your clothing; if you smell your clothing after laying on a latex mattress for awhile - your clothing will smell strongly of the latex.  And it's reasonable to conclude that the fumes don't just stop "traveling" when they reach your clothing - if the gasses are strong enough to penetrate through several layers of bedding, and onto your clothes - they penetrate into your body.  The physiological symptoms that I often experienced while laying on my latex mattress is evidence of this.

It seems that the warmer the weather got, the worse the offgassing became - and the worse my symptoms got.  I had to make these observations and reach these conclusions on my own - the mattress companies sure as heck don't help you out in this regard.  The lying-by-omission and the outright dishonesty these mattress companies commit is remarkable.

The thoughts I express here are largely based on my experience with a blended Talalay latex mattress (which, IIRC - is about 60% synthetic) - but, having purchased samples of "100% natural" latex from at least two different companies, I have reason to believe that much of the same holds true for the "100% natural"/"organic" latex, as well.  The natural/organic latex may be "healthier", or it may not be.  "Natural" doesn't automatically mean "healthy" - after all, beer is also "natural".   "Natural" latex could very well be the lesser of the evils, though. Natual/organic latex also seems to have a strong smell - though the smell is more along the lines of pure rubber, rather than a concoction of chemicals/gasoline.  But the odor of the natural/organic latex will also seep into your clothes in a similar manner as the synthetic latex's odor.  Natural/organic latex also seems to be in a perpetual "disintegration" mode - in fact, you will see some companies describe the natural latex as "biodegradable" - which is a good-sounding marketing word.  What they don't quite tell you is that it "biodegrades" right underneath you!  

I'm not so sure that "natural" means that the offgassing will not bother me - at least as far as I'm concerned.  I'm also not too keen on the idea of having the "natural" rubber compounds bioaccululate in my body.

From an off-gassing standpoint - if you have to choose between a synthetic latex mattress and a polyurethane foam mattress - you might be better off with a polyurethane foam mattress, IMO.  From my experience, polyurethane foam does not off-gass as aggressively as the synthetic latex - and it seems more chemically-stable (it is also less dense than latex - which translates to a less-concentrated source of chemicals).  Stick with regular polyurethane foam though, rather than the memory foam;  memory foam may be more comfortable, but it can be a noxious nightmare based on the complaints of lots of people.

Keep in mind that polyurethane foam also off-gasses - it's simply the lesser of the evils (from my experience).  The source of the polyurethane foam may make a difference - some manufacturers may produce a better-quality product than others.  It's hard to determine for sure, though - since such information seems shrouded in secrecy (and lies).  There seems to be a lot of significant information that is concealed from the consumer.  I share your frustration with not being able to get honest, clear information about these products.