okra: Mattress Review: Week One

The new mattress arrived exactly one week ago. Am I still liking it? Here's my week one review:

Overall:
I'd give this mattress a very good rating, about 4.5 stars out of 5. I'd dock it more for having a high price tag, except that I think it's worth it. I'm sleeping noticeably better than I was (but I did have a pretty darn bad mattress, so that might be a factor).

Comfort:
My back pain has definitely lessened, but not completely gone. Though I wasn't expecting my back pain to disappear after trying the new mattress. I don't that it is realistic to expect any mattress to cure me. That being said, I think that it gives excellent support. I have been waking up less during the night, and I have not woken up with asthma problems at all during the night (I usually do). Though perhaps that can simply be attributed to the horridness of the old mattress, which I'm sure had accumulated quite a bit of dust and allergens over the years. The allergen resistance of the mattress is something that will have to be proven over time I suppose.

I really appreciate that each side of the mattress has a different firmness. Ironically, Keith and I ended up liking each other's side more (and not just because we like each other, haha). He liked the medium firmness, and I ended up liking the soft. So, we switched and are now quite content.

The top of the mattress cover is quite comfortable. The top is quilted, so that it has a soft, cushy feel. It's not overly padded though, which in my mind is good, as I don't believe that there is much potential for body impressions to form. I think permanent body impressions would ruin a mattress for me, and thus would diminish the life of the mattress. We added a thicker, removable mattress pad on top for added cushiness, but also to protect the mattress. We just bought a moderately priced one at Target.

Ease of Assembly:
The mattress came unassembled; there were four foam sheets and a casing in which to stuff them all into. It was not terribly hard to put the foam pieces in the fabric cover. The cover is made to fit tight, so it did take some patience. The instruction sheet did warn that "at first the cover will appear too small, but it will fit". They weren't lying. It really was tight, and it really did fit. The finished product looks more or less like a regular mattress and the cover is tight enough that it does not bunch when you sleep on it. I did notice that tiny pieces of foam rubbed off on me, the floor, and our cat Mao Mao while I was assembling the mattress. She looked like she had a bad case of cat dandruff. (!) But, of course the shedding stopped as soon as the cover was on. I'd say that is only a temporary problem.

Quality:
The mattress seems to be of high quality; we got what what we paid for. It is as was described. I was especially impressed with the quality of the organic cotton and wool mattress cover. The top completely zips off, via a metal zipper. As aforementioned, the top is quilted; it seems to be a quality stitching job. The only drawback is that it is not washable, though it can be dry cleaned. However, it seems a bit contradictory to saturate your organic mattress cover with dry cleaning chemicals. One could send it to an eco-cleaners', but I don't think that would be practical for us, since there are none near here that I am aware of.

Misc. notes:
Keith said that the foam looked like big pieces of tofu. At first he thought it smelled like tofu, too, but then later claimed that it also smelled like french vanilla. (?) My guess is that it would smell like rubber, but maybe tofu kind of smells like rubber? I personally don't have a sense of smell, so don't really have any idea. Whatever it smells like, Keith said that it wasn't too strong, especially once the cover was put on. I'm generally convinced that smell is not a real concern with this mattress. There have been complaints about smell (a chemical smell in particular) regarding foam mattresses made from other materials, but I think that it is safe to say that latex does not have this problem (I'm basing this on what Keith has told me).

Also of note, we have the 8" thick mattress, so it has a bit thinner profile than most modern mattresses probably have. When researching the mattress, others had been concerned that regular sheets would not fit the thinner mattress. In reality, this doesn't seem to be a problem though, as the regular standard queen size sheets we have fit it just fine.

The end:
I had personally found a general lack of helpful reviews when I was researching latex mattresses. I hope that this is helpful to someone, someday. So far, I'm very happy with our choice, and I think it is an option worth looking into for others that are seeking a practical organic mattress.