Little Bit of Green

Perhaps if you’re into eco-friendly products, you may have decided to leave behind your old box spring/mattress combo and consider something new, like a memory mattress or a latex mattress. Yet you may also have made the assumption that latex is a natural substance, so you’d also be leaving behind a bed infused with petrochemicals. But think again. Latex can also be a synthetic, oil-based material, so you’ll need to do your homework on latex foam mattresses to be sure you’re get what you want.

There are two processes used to create latex mattresses. With the Standard method, the liquid (whether it’s the rubber sap or the petrochemical substance) is whipped into a froth, which creates the millions of air bubbles that are responsible for the special properties of a foam mattress. Then the liquid is poured into a mold, which is sealed and heated until it cures into its finished mattress form. In the Talalay method, the mold contains countless tiny pinprick spikes that make extra little channels for air to move through. This method creates a latex foam mattress that’s somewhat more resilient and buoyant.

So far it sounds like either method works fine for creating a latex mattress, so why would anyone want to use a petrochemical based substance at all? The problem is that natural latex is often less comfortable than the synthetic version. So people either opt for a foam bed made completely of the petrochemical latex or, at best, they blend in some of the chemical substance to add extra give and softness to the natural latex. This means that you can choose a completely synthetic mattress, a completely natural one, or one that has a blend of the two materials.

This demonstrates why you need to do your homework before you buy. A latex mattress can be made softer and more comfortable with the infusion of natural oils, so it’s not true that you can’t go all-natural. But even a mattress given a “green” label might contain synthetic latex. As you go mattress shopping, keep all these things in mind. Investigate the manufacturers and different brands if you can, to discover the process and the materials used. You want to be sure what you’re getting when you buy a foam bed.

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