Latex Mattress

Bedding has added a new product that is being favorably received and that is the latex mattress which is now a product of such old mattress companies as Serta, Sealy, and Simmons. All of these well known makers of mattresses with the box springs have added a line of latex mattresses and all offer either the cheaper synthetic latex or the more expensive organic which means natural latex mattresses. Organic latex mattress or natural latex mattress is made from products that have actually grown from the earth and are therefore natural as opposed to those products that are made from mixtures of products formulated in a lab to mimic the natural properties of nature.

Latex mattress has the same features and is basically the same as the more commonly known memory foam mattresses. The difference between latex mattresses and foam mattresses is obviously in their structure, latex mattresses use latex and foam mattresses use foam. What is latex?

Latex is the natural rubber that comes from the South American rubber tree. Latex made from natural rubber is probably going to be more expensive that latex made from synthetic rubber. Although one latex is created by a tree and another rubber in the lab, both latex using mattresses are made with breathing holes in them. This makes the latex mattress adjustable to the weight of the body parts on it. This lack of resistance to the head, let us say, gives the person sleeping a uniform support and lessens the possibility of neck strain due to regular mattress construction. Foam is used in some latex mattresses as an enclosing material to give the feeling of comfortable lack of resistance to the body.

Latex holes are not created equal. Depending on the manufacturer, some latex mattresses have the same size holes interspersed throughout the mattress and some use a varying pattern of different size holes. The latex mattress with the same size holes are firmer as the air contained in the holes is uniform. The latex with different size holes is more cushiony as the holes containing air only are of different sizes and adds to a less firm mattress.

A combination also of synthetic and natural rubber is also used by many manufacturers to cut down on cost as, of course, we all know that you pay more for natural products that take time for nature to make then for artificial products that can be whipped up immediately in the lab.

We all know how regular mattresses are made. All we have to do is to cut into one and we can see the cotton or other material and materials in the mattress. The latex mattress is made using a form like a huge jello mold. The latex is poured, after having been beaten like egg whites, into the mold and heated until it looks like the inside of a steel making furnace. That was the first way that latex was made and was known as the Dunlop method. An innovation to the Dunlop method was a way to actually reduce the number of air holes in the latex by using a vacuum with the mold. That complicated process of trying to control the air holes is called the Talalay method.

Both of these methods of making a latex mattress produce a spongy like substance that is wonderful for the back and the head as well as other parts of the body. The only difference between the Dunlop and the Talalay is the addition of the vacuum to the cooling process of the latex which changes the size and the amount of air holes which are a part of the Talalay latex mattress.

Although more expensive, the natural latex coming from the rain forests of South America and from places like Sri Lanka have some natural properties that make it a better mattress. They are naturally resistant to parasitic growths that make them an excellent choice for people with allergies. Unlike the earlier foam mattresses, latex mattresses have the resistance of a regular mattress but with all the added features of a foam mattress. Because natural latex is made from rubber it gives way to your body as you sleep but comes back to its original shape when your weight is off it again. Just as there are latex mattresses made from natural and synthetic latex, there are latex mattresses made with a combination of natural rubber curing processes. They use both the Dunlop and the Talalay methods in the same latex mattresses to adjust the level of firmness that a sleeper might require.