Mattress Forum

The 100% natural talalay from Latex International is certified by the Eco Institut of Germany now.  It has been 3rd party tested and it shows that there is no synthetic latex in the mix. When they claim 100% natural rubber, it means the polymer mixture, or the ratio of NR (natural rubber) to SBR (styrene-butadiene rubber).  The reason it is usually not as pure has to do with shipping/and the extra steps involved in the talalay process.  The purest rubber foam in the world is about 97% pure, there always has to be some residual sulfur in the end product, (sulfur literally forms the links and bonds between the rubber and is chemical used by Mr. Goodyear when he invented the vulcanization process for rubber). Some products have simply more residual sulfur, and zinc oxide left in the end product.  Anything over 90% pure is high quality and would be certified by Eco Institute (assuming they do not have other VOC's in the product that test higher than they allow for).

Also is Essentia not a trustworthy company?

thanks!

Dunlop rubber is denser and heavier than Talalay rubber, and therefore materials costs are always higher given that the polymer mixture is the same.  The price of processing Talalay latex is higher and than Dunlop.  Higher price does not always mean a better end product.  The most expensive latex mattresses usually have the most expensive and higher quality coverings and base systems, something that many people will not consider when doing comparison shopping.  For the most part you get what you pay for, but preference is always a big factor.  Natural dunlop rubber is realistically more supportive and longer lasting than less dense natural talalay, natural talalay can be made softer and perhaps (in the case of lower ILD's)  a little better at relieving pressure.  So its not that one is better persay than the other.  At the end of the day, the best and most expensive latex foams are truthfully all natural, there are some synthetic rubbers that exist that can outperform natural rubber in some respects, however styrene butadiene is not really one of them.  The elasticity of natural rubber is essentially what makes latex a desirable product to use in a mattress, natural rubber is significantly more elastic than synthetic latex.  Few other materials compare in this regard other than horsehair (which is even more expensive).

I don't trust Essentias information regarding latex foams as much of it is either biased heavily and or simply incorrect.  For example on their ingredients page they list styrene-butadiene as a component of natural rubber.  Styrene-butadien is quite literally what synthetic latex (in mattresses) is made out of.  They also list polyvinyl acetate as a component of natural rubber, although because this is actually a polymer material it would be tested for by companies like Eco Institut before they certify rubber, there are many latex makers that do not use this chemical in making truly natural rubber.  As a company I don't think Essentia is any more shady (in reality a lot less shady) than most mattress manufacturers.  But they really pick and choose the information they make available about their material and do not have it 3rd party tested (and publicly list the results).  

Savvy Rest, in their blog (by Michael Penny) actually says that you can't make latex 100% natural because there will always be small amounts of processing chemicals like sulfur and some other stuff, which the latex manufacturers say are proprietary information.  He said it's really more like 95% or so, so Savvy Rest will never claim 100% in order to be fully honest.  You can find it somewhere in the blog...I think the title was very roughly along the lines of "chemicals in your mattress" but I can't remember.  I just read it yesterday but I think it was an old entry.  So, possibly that's where Essentia is getting that claim from, though they didn't cite that when I asked.

When a rubber tree is damaged in the wild the milk of the rubber tree (latex) comes out and will actually naturally harden within a relatively short period of time.  Ammonia is typically added in large volumes in the shipping containers so that this does not happen during transport of the material.  Even a small amount is usually added even if it is processed in SE Asia.  

When it comes to sulfur content, zinc oxide, or ammonia...it has nothing to do with the process used...it has to do with vulcanizing natural rubber in general.  If you want to see the purest rubber around you have to get access to Eco Instituts test results for varying manufacturers that submit to testing.  GreenSleep and Cocolatex for example even publish these results so you can know the specific amount of sulfur content and also a super long list of VOC's that they test for.  These are both Dunlop latex foams...there is now some certified Talalay latex but none of these companies have published their results.

Thanks again! Really appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us forumers.

Its not too fair for me to speculate too much.  Most certified dunlop producers do not publish their results either, they usually just list that they have some kind of certification for 3rd party testing.

Budgy thanks for all the helpful posts.

Some questions from me.

1  Which latex lasts longer and which one does not sag?

Synthetic talalay or Natural talalay?

2.  what is the softest dunlop latex? who is making it?

3. For me I am having low back pains.

Should I be choosing synthetic talalay or natural talalay

or dunlop latex?

Thank you budgy