Ikea Latex Mattress?

When something like memory foam or latex is mentioned as a component of the mattress, it is often the case that the material mentioned is only part of the mattress. The industry does have all natural 100% latex mattresses, but those mattresses average more than $5,000 retail. Make sure you ask the salesperson whether the mattress is made with natural or synthetic latex, and what percentage of it there is. A word to look for is Talalay. This is the name of the process of turning natural latex into a foam. Avoid “dunlop” which is a way of making latex foam from a combination of natural latex and other materials, most of which are based on petroleum. If you are looking for a mattress that is specifically designed to be better for the environment, I recommend looking into the Nature’s Rest brand. The latex mattresses at IKEA should fall under the $1000 mark, and Nature’s Rest should be at least $2000. In the spirit of full disclosure, I must let you know that I have not worked with Nature’s Rest, but I have worked with the Spring Air brand, whose manufacturer also makes Nature’s Rest. Spring Air has been in the business since before our grandparents were born, and I was very impressed with their non-latex product when I worked with them. Ikea, on the other hand, is a furniture retailer at the end of the day. I am always wary of furniture retailer’s in-store mattress brand (that is all IKEA offers) as it seems to me that they would make aesthetic or economic choices, rather than choices that would actually benefit their customers.

Don’t invite anyone with latex allergies to a sleepover!!!!

Three points on that.
1. Always test out a mattress before you buy it by lying and turning on it for at least 10 minutes. This will tell you if you will be allergic.

2. Latex is a contact allergy. Fabric and flame-proof materials cover the mattress. An allergic individual would get the same reaction to sleeping on a mattress as they would having a latex glove waved around 4 feet away.

3. It is my understanding that the process of turning latex into tensile materials (i.e. gloves, rubber bands, and condoms) is a different process of turning it into foam. I would guess that the proteins (the parts that humans can be allergic to) in the two different products are different because one has been “cooked” more, denaturing it.