With more and more people becoming concerned with their personal environmental impact over the years we are seeing a sharp rise in the number of people who are deciding to order natural mattresses.
The number of materials that can truly be classed as organic or natural are limited, and usually, products made from organic materials are quite expensive. Regardless of this, there’s an undeniable uptrend in the number of organic mattresses being sold recently, and they’re becoming more popular by the day.
Today we’re going to answer some frequently asked questions about organic and natural mattresses to see what they are, and why they are good. We’re going to conclude with several reviews of some great natural mattresses before providing you with an overall product recommendation of what we think is the best organic mattress on the market right now.
Let’s get started.
What Makes A Mattress Organic Or Natural?
Natural and organic mattresses are products that don’t use artificial chemicals or other nasty products in their construction. They are usually made from renewable resources that have been ethically sourced and their manufacturing methods are usually as eco-friendly as possible.
There’s a wide range of products out there that claim to be organic, despite using only one or two layers of natural material (combined with some other artificial stuff). Check each product layer by layer to see just how natural they really are.
What To Look For In A Good Organic/Natural Bed?
Here are a few things you should be looking for to find the best natural mattresses on the market.
No Artificial Foams
If a product has any kind of artificial foam in it (memory foam, comfort foam, or high-density foam) then it’s not a completely natural product. Memory foam is the worst material in terms of eco-friendliness out of all foams on the market – any product that contains it has no right to call themselves natural.
Renewable
Check that the sources of the materials used in the layer are renewable. Almost all good organic mattress materials will come from eco-friendly renewable sources, but there are a few bad apples out there.
Chemicals
Flame retardants are an essential part of mattress design, but they are almost always made from artificial chemicals. There are a few natural flame retardants out there, and the best products use them – but again, double check to be sure.
5 Benefits of Buying an Organic Bed
Let’s take a look at the 5 main benefits of buying an organic bed
1. It’s Good For The Environment
We should all be doing as much as we can to minimize the impact we have on our planet and its resources. Natural and organic beds are far better for the environment than artificial foam based alternatives.
2. They’re Better For Your Health
Some of the chemicals used in flame retardants and memory foam construction are extremely powerful and toxic. You won’t find this kind of stuff in high-quality natural products.
3. They Smell Better
New foam products (particularly memory foam) can have smelly off-gassing when they are new, natural products don’t suffer from this.
4. They’re Recyclable
The problem of what to do with old mattresses is something we have been dealing with for quite some time now. Natural products are usually completely recyclable – making their manufacture a closed cycle in terms of resources.
5. They Can Be Vegan
If you’re a dedicated vegan and want a product that uses no animal products whatsoever, then some of the best natural mattresses can provide this for you.
Overall Best Organic Bed: Avocado Green
At the end of this article, we’re going to talk about a few organic and natural mattresses that we came across that we really liked the look of – however, we did find a clear winner. We think that this brilliant product from Avocado Green is the best natural mattress made from organic materials on the market right now.
It’s a hybrid product that uses several different layers of different materials to combine their strengths (and compensate for their weaknesses) in the final product. Let’s take a look at each layer in detail to see what you’re getting for your money – and to verify it’s all natural.
New Zealand Wool
The top layer of the product is made from a super soft New Zealand wool. Wool is one of the best natural thermal regulators on the planet, we have been using it for millennia to keep us warm and comfortable – and it’s an obvious choice for an organic product like this. It’s great at wicking away sweat, and it has been treated with a natural fire retardant (without chemicals) to keep you safe and sound.
Silica Fire Retardant
This layer is made from natural Silica that has been rated by the USDA as GRAS (Generally Recognised As Safe). It works hand in hand with the flame retardant in the wool section above to prevent any issues occurring if the mattress comes into contact with an ignition source.
Dunlop Latex x 2
There are two kinds of latex on the market, Dunlop and Talalay – and they are both expensive.
All latex foam is eco-friendly and natural, it’s made from the sap of the rubber tree which is farmed in huge quantities in South East Asia. It’s also a carbon neutral material as throughout the lifetime of the tree that produces the sap the tree will absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for growth.
This latex foam is made from Dunlop latex, which is cheaper of the two kinds. It’s much more eco-friendly than Talalay latex because it uses gentler manufacturing processes (instead of the competitively harsh chemicals used in Talalay latex).
Latex is a great material that has contouring properties that are similar to memory foam (albeit not quite as good). Unlike memory foam, latex foam doesn’t really get hot throughout the night – it’s a great natural thermal regulator. It’s also super breathable, and air inside the layer will be able to ventilate out into the bedroom with ease (taking any heat away with it).
This layer has been split down the middle (horizontally) into two separate layers. This has no effect on the feel of the mattress, and it’s only been done due to some of the manufacturing limitations of Dunlop latex.
Independent Coils
This section is made from an advanced independent coil system. Many people confuse these kinds of coils with innerspring mattresses – but they are entirely different technologies.
Innerspring mattresses are the old kind of mattress that have literally been used for hundreds of years. Have you ever seen a stereotypical old mattress in a movie that’s wobbling around with a spring or two poking out? That is an innerspring mattress.
In an innerspring mattress, all the coils are connected to one another (usually by some kind of wire) and the whole thing is connected to a solid outer frame. This means that the entire layer is essentially one piece, and as the coils are connected when you push down on one coil, most of the coils will compress slightly. This means that the shape created in the layer is reasonably general, and it doesn’t look much like your body shape.
This is not very supportive, but for quite some time, it’s all we had.
In the past decade or so, independent coils have arrived on the scene. They use coils that are not massively dissimilar to the coils in innerspring products – the main difference is that they are not connected to one another.
This sounds like a trivial difference, but it’s actually quite important. When you press down on a coil in an independent coil mattress – only the coils that have direct pressure applied to them will compress. You could park a truck on one side of this mattress, and the coils on the other side would be completely unaffected (but we strongly advise against testing this out at home).
This independence means that the impression in the layer of coils is much more accurate compared to what you’d get in an innerspring product – and it’s much more supportive too. It’s almost like the contouring effects of memory foam, except it’s less accurate and we’re using springs instead of foam.
That’s pretty interesting already, but Avocado Green have done something super special here…
The springs in this layer have been divided up into 3 separate sections. Each section uses a different kind of spring with a different thickness and firmness. This means that the amount of support the mattress provides differs along the length of the mattress. It has been tailored to promote optimal spinal alignment for side sleepers, giving you more support where you need it, and a little slack where you don’t.
This zoned design pattern isn’t unique to Avocado Green, but it’s not something we see often (and it’s only used in the very best products on the market). As time goes on, more and more brands are adopting this kind of zoned support system – but as far as we know Avocado Green is the only natural organic mattress to offer it with a coil layer at present.
Firmer Dunlop Latex
This final layer of latex is very similar to the latex layers we have talked about above. It’s a much firmer foam, however, and it is here to support and stabilize the layers above – enabling them to do their job properly without wobbling around.
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Excellent brand
- Completely organic natural materials
- Renewable materials
- Recyclable
- Zoned support system
- Cool sleeping surface
- Very comfortable
Cons
- None
4 More Really Good Natural/Organic Beds
To end this article we are going to quickly look at 4 other excellent natural and organic mattresses that didn’t make it to the top spot – but are worthy of your consideration.
Zenhaven
This is one of the most luxurious (and expensive) natural products on the market. It’s made from pure latex foam that has been designed in a very special way. There’s an intricate matrix of ventilation holes that create a zoned support system like the Avocado Green – which works in a different way but is equally as effective.
Nest
Nest is arguably the most well known and respected natural mattress brand on the market right now. They have several products available, all of which are of the highest quality and are strictly made from organic and renewable sources. We won’t do them a disservice by trying to explain them all in a single paragraph, so we highly recommend you head over to their site and check them out.
Plush Beds
This is a US company, that uses a combination of latex, wool, and cotton with some pretty clever manufacturing techniques and design patterns to create one of the best natural mattresses on the market. They’re GreenGold certified, they have a long 25-year warranty, and their products are built to last. We strongly advise you to take a quick look at their offerings before deciding on one of the other mattresses here today.
My Green Mattress
This is one of the most affordable natural mattresses on the market (but it’s still expensive compared to some chemical based products). It uses a coiled section like the Avocado Green (without a zoned support system) in conjunction with layers of memory foam and organic wool to create a stunning product. It’s super comfortable, it’s super supportive, and it’s worthy of being added to your shortlist.
Conclusion
So there you have it, that’s what we think are the best natural and organic mattresses on the market right now.
We’ve covered quite a few products here today, all of which are worthy of your consideration. We strongly recommend you go for the Avocado Green because it’s by far the best organic product on the market right now (possibly with the exception of Nest and Zenhaven, who give it some decent competition).
Whichever product you end up buying, you can sleep well at night knowing that you’ve done your part to help keep our planet a cleaner, greener place.
Sweet dreams.
