The Nolah Mattress has been on our radar for quite some time now. When they first entered the market they were promising to revolutionize the mattress world by creating new technologies and materials.
Many brands claim this, so we didn’t pay that much attention to them at first…
But Nolah has really kept to their word, they’ve created a product that is arguably one of the most advanced on the market in terms of materials. It has slowly been gaining market share and is rapidly becoming a favorite with the mattress buying public.
Today we’re going to take a look at what makes this such an advanced product by reviewing every material layer by layer. We’re also going to be answering a bunch of frequently asked questions and providing you our overall unbiased opinion in our Nolah mattress review section.
Let’s get started.
Key Components To The Nolah Mattress
So let’s dive in at the deep end and start dissecting the Nolah mattress layer by layer to see what you’re getting for your money.
Like all good modern mattresses, the Nolah is a hybrid mattress that is made up several different materials layered on top of one another. This allows the mattress to benefit from their different strengths, and it allows the materials to counteract some of the weaknesses of other materials.
Covering – Viscose
The viscose covering on the Nolah is an excellent wicking agent. It’s designed to draw away any sweat that it comes into contact with during the night to ensure the sleeper does not become uncomfortable. Viscose is a durable material that’s machine washable, and it’s also extremely soft to the touch (which adds a little extra luxury to the product).
First Layer – AirFlow Foam
The top layer in this product is where the fun starts. Nolah went to great expense and effort to develop a propitiatory foam that has the contouring benefits of memory foam without the overheating issues that have plagued the material from the start.
To fully understand the benefits of AirFlow foam it’s important to learn a little bit about the problems of memory foam.
The reason that memory foam gets so hot is, unfortunately, the same reason that it has the contouring properties that provide the famous support it is loved for. On the microscopic level memory foam is made up of countless little pockets of air. When you lie down on the mattress these pockets contract under your body weight, when you get off they expand to their original size and position again.
These pockets of air are completely enclosed, so there’s no ventilation within them. When body heat enters the air inside these pockets it is trapped – and the mattress begins to heat up.
There are some clever memory foam designs that combat this issue by either opening the cells or adding a cooling gel to the mix. It’s not a perfect solution, but it does vastly improve upon standard memory foam.
However, these solutions are putting a band-aid on the overheating problem…
Nolah’s AirFoam doesn’t have this problem to begin with.
Because the material is completely different to memory foam, there’s no trapped air to heat up the mattress (hence the name AirFlow). The contouring properties of AirFlow foam are also slightly superior to most memory foams, which results in a more supportive and comfortable sleeping surface.
Nolah has really changed the game with AirFlow foam, and other brands have already started to release their own variations of the material.
Second Layer – Supportive High Resilience Foam
To be totally honest, all the technology and innovation in this product can be found in the layer above – there’s nothing all that special about this layer. Supportive high resilience foam is just a fancy word for a medium density comfort foam.
Nolah correctly says on their website that it’s more durable and stronger than latex – which is true. But that’s true of comfort foam in general.
That being said, it’s a high-quality foam that’s going to stand the test of time. It does add a decent amount of support to the mattress and it improves responsiveness too. It’s a great gradient between the super comfortable top layer and the base layer below.
Third Layer – High-Density Support Foam
Nolah is refreshingly honest about this layer. Many brands try and talk up their base layer saying how it’s some high tech wonder material – but 99 times out of 100 it’s just standard high-density support foam. And this time is no different.
However, Nolah has gone to great lengths to ensure that the foam used is of the highest possible quality, and considering the quality of the other materials in this product – we have no reason to doubt them.
Nolah Mattress Coupons
At the time of writing Nolah is offering a $75 discount code to anyone who signs up to their newsletter via their website. Simply enter your email address and Nolah will send you the code directly to your inbox.
In addition to this Nolah are currently running a promotion that gives you around $100 to $130 off your purchase. There’s no coupon code required, it’s automatically applied when you purchase from their website (the amount of discount varies between mattress sizes).
How Much Does The Nolah Mattress Cost?
The Nolah is a mid-range product that has a mid-range price tag ranging from $549 to around $1,000. Here’s the full price list at the time of writing:
- Twin – $549
- Twin XL – $699
- Full – $799
- Queen – $949
- King – $1,069
- California King – $1,069
Note: The automatic discount we mentioned in the section above has been applied to the prices we’ve just laid out.
Nolah Mattress Review
So now we know how much the Nolah costs, and we know the kind of materials and quality you’re getting for your money. Let’s take a look at the 4 main categories that we like to judge mattresses on to see how it fares in our review section.
Support
The AirFlow foam of the top layer is an incredibly supportive material. It’s slightly more contouring than memory foam while retaining an impressive level of density. It’s not too soft, it’s not too hard, it’s just right (for most people).
However, it’s worth pointing out that while the top layer of this product is incredibly supportive – the other layers are pretty basic. There’s nothing wrong with them, but there’s nothing particularly impressive about them either.
The AirFlow foam takes up the slack of the other layers and creates a mattress that is more supportive than average for this price bracket. We would be shocked if we heard complaints about the supportiveness of the Nolah.
However, with a few additional improvements to the layers below, this could have been a superstar in terms of support – which is a slight shame.
Comfort
Again, the AirFlow foam top layer saves the day for the Nolah here – it’s a magnificently comfortable material. It cradles you gently as you lie down on it, but it provides a distinct lofty sensation that feels like you’re floating on a cloud.
Without the comfort foam layer below it would possibly be a little bit wobbly and soft for many people’s tastes – as this is where much of the rigidity and responsiveness is found. It has got a little bounce thanks to this layer too, and the levels of motion isolation are very low (which is great for sleeping partners of different sizes).
Cooling
While we’ve given pretty good opinions of the amount support and comfort this product provides – the Nolah gets top marks in the cooling department too. AirFlow foam is incredibly effective at thermal regulation and the ventilation levels are off the charts.
There’s no chance that anyone reading this will complain about the temperature of the mattress throughout the night. It’s excellent.
Price
We think that the Nolah is fairly priced, which is unusual for us.
At first, we were wondering how they could offer the product for so cheap. The development of AirFlow foam must have cost Nolah a huge amount of money. We were surprised they didn’t hike up the price to reflect the quality of the material and the beneficial properties it provides.
However, we then quickly realized that the other two layers in this product are super standard (albeit high quality) materials – which also means they are super cheap.
As such, we think this is a fairly priced product – you’re mainly paying for the design and development of the top layer. The bottom two layers are essentially free comparatively.
Pros And Cons
- Pro – AirFlow Foam
- Pro – Doesn’t overheat like memory foam
- Pro – Great brand
- Pro – Long warranty
- Pro – Fairly priced
- Pro – Exceptional build quality
- Con – 2nd and 3rd layers are pretty basic
Commonly Asked Questions:
Does The Nolah Mattress Come With A Warranty?
Yes. Nolah includes a generous (and comprehensive) 15-year warranty on all manufacturing defects. Anecdotally the process for dealing with issues covered under warranty is very simple and efficient. Within a day or two Nolah will collect your old mattress and either repair it or more commonly, they’ll replace it outright.
Is The Nolah Mattress A Firm Or Soft Mattress?
The Nolah is a medium firm mattress that’s around a 6 on the firmness scale. This means that it’s at the “softer side of medium firm” but it’s still well within the sweet spot that most people find agreeable. Unless you’ve got a preference for a super soft or a super firm mattress – you’re probably going to enjoy the firmness of the Nolah.
Does The Nolah Mattress Sleep Hot Or Cold?
As we mentioned in the review section above – the Nolah is an exceptionally cool mattress. The AirFlow foam that makes up the top layer provides excellent ventilation throughout the layer and the breathable viscose cover allows air to exit the mattress and enter the bedroom with ease.
How Long Will The Nolah Mattress Last?
The materials that have been used in the construction of the Nolah are of exceptionally high quality and the build quality is equally as impressive. We’d say that 15 years of trouble-free use is pretty much guaranteed, potentially more (their generous warranty backs this theory up too).
Is The Nolah Mattress Good For A Side, Stomach Or Back Sleeper?
The Nolah mattress is excellent for side sleepers thanks to the support provided by the AirFoam top layer. They have custom made this product to be perfect for the sleeping position (as it’s the most common and therefore the most profitable).
However, this is still a great mattress for stomach and back sleepers too – Nolah hasn’t forgotten about you completely!
You’ll still get a very comfortable and supportive night’s sleep on this product if you don’t sleep on your side.
We Recommend The Nolah Mattress For Someone That:
Sleeps Hot – The exceptional cooling capabilities of the AirFlow foam top layer mean that this is an excellent product for anyone that is known to sleep hot throughout the night. Even the warmest sleepers out there reading this will be happy with the thermal regulation capabilities of this product.
Wants Cutting Edge Technology – Worrying about the next big thing in mattress technology coming out soon isn’t going to be a problem with the Nolah. By the time you come to replace it, we’re sure things will have moved on, but this product is truly at the cutting edge of mattress material technology for the next few years at the very least.
Conclusion
So there you have it, that’s what we think about the Nolah mattress.
It’s a cutting-edge product that really relies upon and benefits from the innovative AirFlow foam top layer. The cooling capabilities of the material combined with the excellent levels of support it provides are astonishing.
It would have been good for Nolah to use other advanced materials in the other layers – but that would also have changed the price point to a premium product due to the additional expense.
That being said, this is a great mattress that is more than worthy of your consideration. We highly recommend you add it to your shortlist.
Sweet dreams.
