Natural Latex Mattresses

VOCs, PBDEs and PVCs. Even if you aren’t quite sure what they are, chances are pretty good you’d rather not be sleeping with them. If you have a conventional mattress, made from polyurethane foam and non-organic fibers, you’re spending half your life in bed that emits a chemical cloud.

In fact, thanks to a 1973 U.S. law requiring mattresses to resist cigarette ignition, fire-retardant PBDEs, a brother of PCBs, which cause immune suppression and cancer, among other things, are sprayed on conventional mattresses. According to The Complete Organic Pregnancy, women in the United States, where PBDEs are still used, have 66 times the amount of the harmful chemical in their breast milk than women in Sweden, where the use of the substances are banned.

If you’re not in the market for a new mattress, consider getting an organic topper for your mattress such as the ones reviewed by Justin. If you are mattress shopping, consider buying a mattress made from organic cotton and swap VOC-rich polyurethane for natural talalay latex. Natural latex is a biodegradable, easy to produce, natural substance that resists allergens and dust mites. For a line-up of great latex mattresses that will clean up your bedroom, keep reading.

Posture Select Organic Cotton-Natural Talalay Latex Green Mattress

Natural Latex Mattresses: Posture Select Organic Cotton Natural Talalay Latex Green Mattress

If you’re looking for the ultimate in comfort and trying your hardest to keep away from chemicals and pesticides that can make you sick, the Posture Select Organic Cotton-Natural Talalay Latex Green Matress is a perfect choice.

The 100% Natural Latex core is topped with 9 inches of organic cotton quilted to one inch of natural shasta wool. Plus, if you aren’t totally happy with the way your mattress sleeps after 90 days, Posture Select will ship you different latex cores to try to accommodate your particular soft or firmness needs. If they can’t, they’ll give you your money back. Not a bad deal.

You can purchase this green mattress from Amazon for $1999 for a double and $2499 for a king.

100% Latex Mattress with Organic Cotton Cover

Natural Latex Mattresses: 100% Latex Mattress

Get a similar mattress with a slightly lower price tag with this 100% Latex Mattress with Organic Cotton Cover. Made of natural Sri Lankan talalay latex with absolutely no chemical dyes, pesticides, bleach, carcinogenic adhesives or fire retardants, this mattress offers medium-firm support. Plus, it’s soft, comfortable and shock absorbing.

You can be sleeping in purity and comfort in no time with this mattress available from Amazon for $1599 for a King and $899 for a twin.

Natura Natural Latex Eco Brilliance Organic Mattress

Natural Latex Mattresses: Natura Natural Latex Eco Brilliance Organic Mattress

The Natura Natural Latex Eco Brilliance Organic Mattress’ organic Natura Grow Wool offers an allergen-free and fire-resistant mattress choice. With a 6” natural latex core and organic cotton sateen cover, you’ll get a great night’s sleep that doesn’t necessitate detoxing afterwards. The ultra-plush cushion top is removable if you want a firmer feel.

This mattress is available from Amazon for $3359 for the full. Other sizes are available as well.

Nature’s Finest Liberty 75-D Natural Latex Mattress

Natural Latex Mattress: Nature's Finest Liberty 75-D Natural Latex Mattress

If you prefer a medium soft mattress, the Nature’s Finest Liberty 75-D Latex Mattress is a certified organic choice. The Eco Latex is made to shift back into position as you change yours and the organic wool and organic cotton muslin topper offer cushion on top.

This mattress is available at The Organic Mattress Store for $1320-$2340.

Essentia Classic Latex Mattress

Natural Latex Mattresses: Essentia Classic Mattress

Made with Hevea Milk, Dunlop 100% natural latex, organic essential oils, natural plant extracts and natural liquid latex, if you’re looking for chemical-free quality, no one takes the earth and your health more seriously than Essentia. The Essentia Classic Latex Mattress is made from the only Natural Memory Foam on the market and allergy-free latex. The pressure-point relieving mattress is VOC free and has no chemical offgassing.

The Essentia Classic is available in a variety of sizes at My Essentia.

We spend about one third of our lives in bed. It’s a time when our body regenerates itself. We release about 3 liters of water while we sleep, and our bodies go through cycles of cooling down and heating up. We also absorb substances through our skin and through our lungs. So keeping one’s bed toxin-free is optimal.

To create a non-toxic bed we must ensure that the mattress, pillows and sheets are free of toxins. Unfortunately, in the U.S. it is quite difficult to acquire a non-toxic bed without a lot of searching and expense (a recent article in the New York Times explains the tangled situation). So here’s a guide to finding a inexpensive, chemical-free bed:

Specifically, the aim here is to avoid:

• Fire-retardant chemicals (PBDE)
• Formaldehyde
• Boric acid
• Toxic dyes
• Bleaches
• Pesticides & herbicides

Most conventional bedding contains many of these contaminants. Unfortunately, some chemicals even put there deliberately, such as the fire-retardant chemical “Polybrominated Diphenal Ether” or PBDE. To buy a mattress in the U.S. that is free of the PDBE, you still need permission from a doctor. This is despite the fact that PBDE has been banned by Europe, Canada, California and Washington.

It’s also a good idea to avoid synthetic materials. Natural fibers allow for changes in body temperature, because they do not reflect heat and because they can absorb moisture.

The rationale for choosing chemical-free, organic bedding can be found in book Toxic Bedrooms: Your Guide To A Safe Night’s Sleep (this book is a great source of information). See also the activist website People For Clean Beds.

Here’s my recommended bedding materials:

• An Organic or Natural Latex Mattress
• Organic Pillows
• Organic Cotton, Linen or Hemp Sheets
• Organic Duvet/Comforters

Let’s break it down:

Organic Mattresses

The key here is to choose an organic material, free of toxins and able to absorb moisture. Organic mattresses are commonly made with organic cotton, organic wool or 100% natural latex.

I think natural latex is the optimal mattress material, in terms of price and durability. Latex has natural antimicrobial properties that resist dust mites and other allergens, and it’s mold and mildew resistant. Unfortunately, the word “latex” has also been used to describe synthetic latex,which is derived from petroleum.

Natural latex is the milky sap of the rubber tree. It is mostly harvested in South East Asia, where trees are tapped for latex by cutting a groove in the bark of the tree. It is a renewable process — each tree can produce latex for 20 years. Latex requires little energy to process and it’s 100% biodegradable.

Latex is a yielding but highly resilient material. Latex mattresses do not require flipping or turning, and last around 15 years.

The best prices I’ve seen for a natural latex mattress are the ErgoSoft natural latex mattress toppers. You can find a 4″ Latex Mattress Topper for about $510 for a Queen size and $630 for a King Size.

ErgoSoft mattress toppers are not certified organic. However, the manufacturer (a company in Sri Lanka) says the mattresses are “100% natural latex, free of glues, petrochemicals, and industrial additives”.

You can find organic latex mattress at The Latex Mattress Company (the best prices we’ve found) and LifeKind (this company’s entire operation is certified organic). You can also find good, inexpensive organic cotton mattresses at Soaring Heart — I purchased my first organic mattress from this company.

Organic Sheets

It’s particularly important to find non-toxic sheets since they are in direct contact with your skin while you sleep. Optimal materials here are: organic cotton, organic flannel or organic linen and hemp. To really minimize chemical exposure, you can opt for undyed sheets, because the “low-impact” dyes commonly used on organic sheets involve some kind of chemical processing.

The best prices I’ve found for organic sheets is at Gaiam, but only through their “Outlet Store“, their regular prices tend to be steep. You can reasonably priced organic sheets on Amazon.

Organic Pillows

Natural latex is also my recommended material for a pillow. Natural latex pillows are springy and soft — their texture is supple and skin-like. You can expect a natural latex pillow to hold its shape and retain it springiness for 15 years or more. The pillows don’t require cleaning or fluffing like feather pillows.

You can find natural latex pillows at Amazon.

Organic Comforters

In my opinion, organic wool is the best filling material for an organic comforter. Organic wool is more hypoallergenic and breathable than down. I also think organic wool has an edge over organic kapok, because it is better at regulating temperature.

Organic comforters are available on Amazon.

Another good source for organic wool comforters can be found at My Natural Bedding on eBay. You can get an organic queen-size comforter for about $130 — all other stores sell them for $300 and up.

Folding beds have been around at least since the 1920s. The original Murphy Bed Company still exists and is selling beds today. Other companies making contemporary folding beds are: Modern Wall Beds, whose birch bed is pictured here (prices start at $1795). Bonbon in the U.K. makes elegant folding beds, but they are pricey. Others companies offering folding beds are: Regin Sleep System and Rocker Woodworking and Hardware. A long discussion of folding beds can be found on Apartment Therapy. One reader posted a good overview of designer folding beds. She says:

My spouse and I are murphy bed converts. We were both really skeptical at first, & afraid of breaking our bed, but now we wouldn’t go back even if we had the extra space. We love the open space feel & she uses the extra room for yoga, stretching & playtime with our dog.

Plus our dog isn’t able to lay on the bed all day when we are away. The apartment feels a lot fresher too since you can clean “under the bed” with the regular weekly cleaning. In a studio apartment, a murphy can be a relationship saver– it feels like you are getting an extra room because the space the bed normally takes up isn’t wasted during the day. Plus, you can have parties in a studio apartment & feel like you have space for your guests. I like the idea of making a bed into an entertaining space, but not all apartments really work for this space-wise.

For modern design buffs, you can buy the Clei beds mentioned above at Design & Comfort here in New York City- -440 Park Avenue South at the corner of 30th & Park Avenue South. The London-based Clei will be making a queen size wall bed for export to the U.S. in April. We are ordering one for our new place. These really are the most attractive modern-style Murphy beds on the market & they will take a normal real bed mattress. They aren’t the cheapest, however.

Our former Murphy bed was gorgeous with a mirror on the front– it was regularly mistaken for an armoire. We love it, but it is too classic looking for the style of our new place. The worst part of Murphy beds is how ugly they can be in announcing themselves. No one ever knew our Murphy was there, it felt really organic to the space. These folks offer some alternatives & can accommodate an extra deep mattress to make up for not having a box spring: Bedder Way.

Bedder Way use to deliver & do free installation, but have temporary stopped driving to NYC. (FYI- they plan to start again next year). For those who can’t wait, good news is they ship anywhere in the U.S. for $150! These are quality real wood beds from a company in Indiana. You won’t find stuff like this in NYC, most everything is wood veneer that will warp. Plus, they are way, way cheaper than most anything here in the City.

The designer of this bed wants you to turn the “wasted” space under your bed into a convenient, dust-proof storage with this organizing system. This 12-drawer bed features four drawers on each side, as well as four drawers at the foot of the bed that extend the full length of the bed’s frame. The frame comes in double, queen, and king sizes, and you can use the mattress you already have.

The bed is crafted from knotty pine and is hand-stained. It features tongue-and-groove construction, and each drawer glides on metal ball bearings. The price varies, depending on configurations — available from Amazon or
Stacks and Stacks.

Story via productdose and MetaEfficient

This bed frame, constructed in Japan, is made in the style of the Edo period, which was known for its simplicity and restrained elegance. On the eco-level, the bed is constructed out of solid mahogany, which is sustainably farmed. The bed can support a futon or a traditional style mattress. One benefit of this type of design is that no box springs are needed. The queen size sells for $649. :: Haiku Designs

Looolo is one of a handful of innovative companies whose production methods are 100% sustainable. Thus the name Looolo is a visual representation of 100%. They create modern cushions and blankets using methods that have zero environmental impact. Here’s how they achieve that: all the materials used in manufacture are organic (organic buckwheat and cotton for example) and these are dyed with water-based, non-toxic dyes.

It took 5 years to develop the dyes used for the Looolo Textile line. The Climatex Lifecycle yarns are free of all toxic chemicals, yet are still available in a full range of colours.

For their printed material they use water-based inks, recycled paper stock and FSC (forestry stuardship council) approved paper products.

The company is a model of sustainability. There’s no excuse to have cushions stuffed with polyurethane foam.

Looolo

Want a bit of the ocean in your clothing or in your bed? Seacell is a fabric made out of Lyocell (a 100% wood pulp fiber) and seaweed. The theory is that your skin will absorb nutrients from the seaweed, which is quite mineral- and vitamin-rich. From what I can gather, Seacell incorporates 5% seaweed content. The manufacturer, Zimmer AG, says that the porous, open structure of the Seacell fibers “breath” well and absorb what your skin expels. Seacell is mostly being used in bras and underwear, but it also being used in bedding. REI sells a Seacell travel blanket, for example. Seacell is available from Underwear Options

After trying bamboo fibers shirts, I’m sure sleeping under this bamboo fiber duvet would be great. You can read about the efficiency of bamboo fiber here. Bamboo fiber sheet sets are available from Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Sheets like ones featured here are the healthiest sheets available.

Natural dyes are used for coloring, and the sheets finished without chemical softeners or chlorine. They are made from 100% organic cotton.

Since you come in contact with sheets every night, minimizing chemical residues in your sheets is quite beneficial.

Available from: Real Goods ($25-$65)