Let me tell you about our experience. We bought a new mattress in September because our old Serta was 14 years old and wearing down. I did not think for one minute that a new mattress made of ANY material would be worse than our old mattress, but I was wrong. We purchased a Serta iComfort that has foam in it and it is HORRIBLE. It sleeps hot. I don't care if foam is natural or not, foam is foam. Maybe with the natural you don't have the off-gassing. Good, at least you won't die of lung cancer but you'll die from lack of sleep due to discomfort first anyway. I hate this mattress. To me, the foam mattress feels ok for the first 5 minutes, but as you sleep on it it seems to compress until you feel like you are laying on a clay brick. I am on this web site desperately searching for mattress brands that do not have foam. And yes, we paid over $1,000 for this mattress, which is why we still have the thing; couldn't afford to make another mistake right away. This time I'll do more research.

Hi my name is Gabe, I am the owner of Don's mattress service in Massachusetts. Our business started in 1919 on Portland Street in Boston. We still make a tufted innerspring all cotton mattress the old fashion way. our box springs have a real spring in it and are covered with Cotton. We use the same 100% cotton material to cover our box spring that we use to cover our mattresses. We also make horsehair mattresses hand-tied box springs and custom size mattresses for antique beds. Feel free to give us a call with any questions. Gabe Donadio 781 367 2692

I HATE foam mattresses. I had an old school Beautyrest with a pillowtop that lasted for almost 20 years. I bought a new Beautyrest pillowtop to replace it, not thinking there would be any difference in the new mattress. Boy was I wrong! I have had 6 different mattresses in my home in the last 2 months including Beautyrest, Stearns and Foster, and Sealy. All of them have some type of foam in them, they all compress/flatten overnight as you sleep on them, and they all sink overnight as you sleep on them. I want a cotton filled, pillowtop mattress with a pillowtop! They need to stop selling these foam mattresses, period. These mattresses are absolutely worthless!

My friend at MyGreenMattress.com has a basic coil with wool padding over coils. You can ask them to make it with beefed up coils if you want.

I have bought an icomfort bed which was expensive and within 6 months the bed was so horrible you wouldn't believe me. It was dubbed defective so our salesman talked us into the new Platinum bed. This sucks as much as the other. I will NEVER buy a hybrid bed or foam bed again!!

First of all, congrats on sleeping on your mattress for over 30 years! That's significantly longer than the average these days. But the popping and springs poking through is a sure sign -- it's time for a new mattress.

On the high end, Hastens and Vi-Spring make mattresses without foam or latex. WJ Southard also makes one called the Archetype. You could also do a custom configuration for the EOS mattress from Naturepedic, just select coils in place of latex for the comfort and support layers. Royal Pedic also makes some.

But I gotta tell you, it ain't easy making a comfortable mattress without those 2 materials you mentioned....it's totally possible, of course, but the ones that really feel good cost a fortune. Just a heads up.

Is there some reason why you wouldn't want latex? Because latex really is one of the very best materials to use in a mattress and it really helps to make a polyurethane foam-free mattress actually feel comfortable. Latex is in a totally different league from basic polyurethane foam. Natural latex is totally safe, natural and free of all those chemicals you're trying to avoid with foam. And some all-latex mattresses have been known to last 30 years.

You might even want to consider slicing open a section of your simmons, just to see what's inside just before you get rid of it.

Thanx all you who told your stories. My husband and I have been spending way too much time looking for a comfy mattress. We tried everything except the 100% latex. (TOO EXPENSIVE). All these mattresses, foam, water bed, inner spring with memory foam, have all proved disappointing. We are so tired. The neighbors must be wondering what the heck is going on at our house because we first gave away our mattress we had for 20 yrs to a neighbor. Then we tried a mattress at the "big lots" showroom, that was harder than the floor model, so we had them pick it up. Then we tried a Sam's club mattress and it was hot because of the memory foam, returned that one, then we tried another "soft" mattress from Mattress Firm and again it was different than the floor model. We are sending it back as well. Help! We are not really that picky! Just want a comfortable bed.

Matt,

I have not come across anything like the old ones, but if you are concerned about chemicals in foam or latex, Look at Organicpedic by OMI, they are out of California and they have the purest organic mattress on the market. There should be some dealers near you. And remember to shop local! Good Luck!

Sorry to get in on the discussion late. However, If you are looking for a bed that feels like the traditional mattress and will still offer support and sustainability, you may want to try a beauty rest black. One of the starting model firm ones may feel right. I'm telling you we get asked this question a ton at our stores. People just want the old school feel back. The problem is a lot of the construction has changed and with that so went some of the feels. I have seen our RSA's put people on the "Black" which is a luxury bed, but still offers the closest thing to that old school robust feel that just says "oh ya, this bed is solid". The focus on Beauty rest Black is the triple cable coil, which in my opinion is the best innerspring on the market. It has three times the strength, lasting three times as long. If a good mattress should last ten years, think of the time the Beauty rest black should last. Now there are the foams in them that the other beds have (there is no escaping that), but with some heavy duty fibers and some really durable quilt materials, this line has really taken luxury back to the basics. There are some other some other bells and whistles, but trust me, this bed feels great for the traditionalists. Just to go back about and touch on your concerns about some reviews and reports on a few mattresses you have seen. You really have to look at what the people bought and what they were "sold" Too many times our industry gets wrapped up in selling people this elixir idea to people, like a new bed is going to solve all problems. Then the people settle for a price range that will not do anything for them besides provide them with a couple years (if that) of low quality sleep. It's a huge let down. People really want a bed that under promises and over delivers. But you do have to be willing to make an investment. A good quality bed is going to be over a thousand dollars. I haven't seen much that really delivers for over 4 to 5 years of solid use under the 899, 999 mark. Once you start looking around 1299 and up, the options really open up and so does the quality. The negative reviews really start to decrease as well as the warranty claims too. Even on 4 grand beds there still are even going be negative reviews (not so much warranty issues). But the expectations can be so high, and what ever the sales person pumped into the consumers head, could have been totally off the mark.
The newer memory foams, gel and non gel, are not all that bad. In fact, in practice and theory they should be way better than the old non visco elastic stuff on the market years ago. They are scientifically proven to outlast the old stuff. The issues lay within the false loft that some of these mid level beds are using to beef up the thickness and profile to make their beds look the part. Maybe they only give you an inch or less off the good stuff and then surround it with sheer crap in between. Some vendors start layering deck upon deck of just junk foam that usually has no ventilation and does sleep hot (bad experiences with these). With no ventilation and moisture from sweat and condensation the padding will definitely break down faster leaving the sleeper with a huge dip. When you go back out to look make sure you get something of good quality, stay away from filling material (just like our food) and look for good airflow and ventilation built in to the bed. I have a Tempurpedic and do not sleep hot, because it was built the right way. I wanted a Tempur because I wanted something that would give me support, contour and feel factory fresh for a long time. If I didn't have the Tempurpedic, I would probably go back with the traditional feel that Beauty Rest Black provides. Good luck let me know if you have any more question. Drew Carchedi - GM Sleepy Hollow Sleep Shops

I am pretty sure ALL of the "BeautyRest Black" mattresses have memory foam. We've had ours about 8 years and we hate it. Sleeps hot and has such huge depressions on each side! Looking to get rid of it ASAP for an old school pillow top. I've heard Texas Mattress Makers have them. Going to look soon!!

One of the biggest problems with the pillow tops is that the pillow top isn't attached to the boarder on the mattress so it starts to pull in to the middle of the bed very quickly. Also the pillow tops are also filled with foam also. Even if you have a mattress that has cotton in it but you put foam or another product over it, it defeats the purpose and you will still sleep at a hotter temp than sleeping on cotton. I hope this was helpful

Just wanted to let everyone know that I too had been searching for a good, non-memory foam mattress. I spent a fortune on a Beautyrest Black set that was sagging and horrible within 1-2 years. I live in Houston and found a company, Texas Mattress Makers, that makes tons of stock and custom mattresses with little to no NO MEMORY FOAM. I don't know if they deliver or can be shipped to other parts of the country. I bought the innerspring mattress with a pillow top called "Manhattan" (I think) and only spent about $700 for the delivered king size mattress only. WOW...love it! These guys will make sure you end up with a bed you love. The owner was featured on an episode of "Billion Dollar Buyer", and seems like he REALLY knows mattresses. He also donated a lot of mattresses to Hurricane Harvey victims and built a custom bed set for some of Tillman Fertitta's hotels. Give them a try and you won't be sorry!

We bought a $2000 Beauty Rest, recharge platinum mattress that is horid, awful!

1 year in and there are valleys where we sleep. We both now have back problems. I think the Sean person above must be a sales person.

Our old inner spring dual side bed lasted forever with no problems! We are switching back.

I too would like to know where to find an inner spring mattress with no foam etc.

Beautyrest

I had similar issues and finally had my bed custom made -- 100% cotton, flip and turn the mattress and I finally have a normal night's rest. I was very happy with Charles H. Beckley

Memory Foam compamy bought Serta and or Simmons. So now ALL the mattresses suck. Memory foam is horrid. I am going to check out these options. Thanks!

Comments can be different, since not everyone likes the same mattress, but I would advise , since I bought it 4 years ago, and i still like it.

matt, did you ever find a suitable mattress that is good for the heat issue?

We had an old school Simmons Beautyrest that lasted 20 years, in fact we still have it in our guest room. I wanted a new one so we purchased the Beautyrest BLACK. We decided to go high end so we spent nearly 5k. Don’t be fooled like we were, this Gel foam Beautyrest BLACK is no different than all the rest. The gel foam does not keep you cool and the sagging valleys on each side that we now sleep in are horrible. The Beautyrest people say the impressions must be a certain depth before they will warranty it and are very specific about what Bed frame you use. We purchased everything including the frame at sears yet no one will stand behind this crap. I live in MN and would love to find a super soft old school no Gel, No foam bed.

I, too, searched everywhere for a no gel / no foam mattress. Finally had to have one custom made. Fortunately I live in NYC and they have a showroom there. Still waiting delivery (just ordered last week), but no gel / no foam / cotton cover. Topper is available, but I declined because it has gel or foam.
The family owned company is Charles A Beckley Inc. I reached Ken in the Bx factory and he was very help -- maybe can help you.

McRoskey Mattress in San Francisco can pretty much make you whatever you want in the way of a traditional mattress. I've been sleeping on a mattress of McRoskey's that I had made to my specification in 1995, and it's still going strong. Of course, I flip it and rotate it weekly, as they suggested I should. While their mattresses are hardly inexpensive, I believe they provide excellent value for money.

I can relate to all of the complaints about these memory foam mattresses. We bought a very fancy mattress with a pillow top that was supposed tt fit my husband and my sleep styles - they hooked us up to a machine and had us lie down in various different sleep positions. It is horrible - 2 big indentions where we each lie, and cannot be flipped because is pillow top. My husband prefers the basic, simple, firm mattress on the bed in our guest room, that is 20 years old. At that time I didn't want anything too fancy, just firm because of back issues. That is what I want, basic firm mattress that gives good support with no bells and whistles and will last for 20-30 years.

anyone find such a thing that doesn't cost a fortune or need to be shipped from Boston?

I have extreme chemical sensitivity. I've had a Serta perfect sleeper for over 33 yrs and have loved it. At the urging of my kids we bought a new mattress. I reacted so violently to it, I couldn't be in the house! I have been through 2 more since. Including an organic one. I react to everything! I'm looking for someone who makes the same mattress as the old days when they were without chemicals and we comfortable. But as of 2007 they are required to spray with flame retardant. I'm currently sleeping in my son's room. I'm desperate!!!

i couldn’t be happier with my naturepedic eos classic with microcoils instead of latex. 8” of “plush” support coils and 3” of “medium” microcoils (not an advertised combination at naturepedic, but i’d classify it as a solid “medium” feel. 11” of springs, all zipped up in their wool,pla and cotton encasement. has great support but still feels plush and luxurious. had 3 years now and no problems with springs or case. expensive but zero regret.

besides some of the other great recommendations above, i’ve also seen restonic makes a zero foam mattress that looks similar in construction to the naturepedic but no choices in firmness and don’t know how it feels.

Hello, I am responding to Daniel B. Thank you I will look into this and I think I will also call Gabe Donadio 781 367 2692 from Andover MA.

I had the two perfect beds, Serta Perfect Sleeper and a Simmons Beauty Rest, pill tops and firm. Wish I never got rid of the last one.

Have been through 3 beds and so disappointed...but found out some great information. Tempuric or whatever foam company purchased the bed manufactures. (Was a reliable source5 years ago, but don't remember who.) You cannot get a decent bed, the foam sags and hurts your back and hips. THEY ARE HORRIBLE mattresses. Thank you for all your input. Merry

what is the best nonlatex non wool mattress on the market?

"what is the best nonlatex non wool mattress on the market?"

i would suggest naturepedic eos.

you can get the latex free version which substitutes the organic latex with microcoils. i greatly prefer the feel of the microcoils over the latex.

you can get the outer case made vegan, with omits the wool and uses more pla which is a plant based "plastic" batting.

This blog helped inform our recent mattress purchase. We LOVED our 13 year old Simmons Beautyrest. My husband and I would always comment after having been on a trip how much better it was even than upscale hotel mattresses. However, all good things come to an end, and we started waking up with back pain, so it was time for a new mattress. After reading a number of blogs and articles online, I discovered that we would likely never find a mattress like that again because all the major manufacturers (Simmons, Sealy, Serta) had gone to including memory foam in their mattress (even innerspring ones). The problem is that memory foam loses its support after about 4 years, but keeps its shape—this means the mattress won’t feel right anymore, but you will not be successful in getting a replacement under the 10 year warrantee. We didn’t want a mattress with memory foam. It took a lot of searching and in the end, I found two options that were made without it, one from a Canadian company, and the one we ultimately purchased from US-Mattress.com (Naturals Level 6 Luxury Plush Mattress - All Natural, No Foam).

I placed our order on August 11, 2019 (including in-home set up and removal of old set, timeframe given as 2-4 weeks). The price was reasonable (only about $200 more than we paid for our much-loved previous mattress 13 years earlier).

I was notified that the mattress shipped Aug 23, saying it would be dropped at our front door, even though my order explicitly included installation and removal of old mattress. Exchanged emails with customer service to prove that I had this in writing. I was told it would delay delivery because they would have to adjust the service level and potentially assign it to a different delivery service (which I accepted). The mattress was ultimately delivered Sept 19 (~ 6 weeks from order). The delivery agents were excellent, provided great communication about delivery window, were careful not to track dirt into the house or bang into walls when entering or departing carrying large bulky mattresses. Super efficient.

We have now slept on the mattress for four months. It is not the utter perfection of our previous mattress (in spite of being plush it is still slightly firmer than our previous one), but it is close enough. We no longer wake up with back pain and have no trouble sleeping. We are satisfied that this is the best mattress we could find given the new manufacturing policies. Here’s hoping it lasts 10 years!

During the 6 weeks that I was waiting for the mattress to arrive, I received up to 3 emails a day from US Mattress trying to sell me additional mattresses or related products. (I kind of wish I’d kept them so I could give a total count, but it was a completely ridiculous number). I’m not sure how many bedrooms they think I have (apparently a lot). I didn’t dare unsubscribe since the same account was going to email me the delivery information. The email spamming is my only complaint (and has ended now that my mattress was delivered and I was able to unsubscribe).

I HATE BEDS WITH MEMORY FOAM IN THEM... THEY ALL SAG & DON'T THINK ABOUT CHANGING YOUR SPOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT BECAUSE YOU'LL BE SLEEPING HIGHER ON ONE SIDE AND LOWER ON THE OTHER BECAUSE YOU'LL SINK INTO THE MEMORY PART AND BE HIGHER UP ON THE SIDE THAT HASN'T GOTTEN TO REMEMBER YOUR BODY YET. I HATE...HATE...HATE MEMORY FOAM BEDS! I HAD MY OLD BED FOR OVER 30 YEARS AND IT WAS AWESOME... THE ONLY REASON I GOT RID OF IT WAS I GOT A DIVORCE AND DIDN'T NEED OR WANT A KING SIZE BED ANY LONGER. I PAID WAY...TO MUCH FOR THIS NEW MEMORY FOAM MATTRESS AND I HAD IT ABOUT A MONTH WHEN IT STARTED TO SAG REALLY BAD. I COULDN'T EVEN SIT ON THE BED WITHOUT FEELING THE DIFFERENCE...IT'S BAD....😟🤬 ALL I WANT IS A GOOD OLD FASHIONED BED LIKE THEY MADE 20 TO 30 YEARS AGO WITH NONE OF THIS CRAPPY MEMORY FOAM IN IT... BUT I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO DO AWAY WITH THE BOXSPRING... I WANT TO DO A PLATFORM BED NOW WITH ONLY A MATTRESS ON IT... IS THIS POSSIBLE?????? GOD, I HOPE SO... PLEASE GET BACK TO ME IF IT CAN BE DONE... BUT NOT KILL MY BANK ACCOUNT..... LOL

Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you latex is "breathable". Total BS. It's highly compressed rubber that is boingy and uncomfortable, and HOT just like foam. As someone else pointed out, ALL, repeat ALL foam will be hot and break down, usually in the middle first. The old fashioned springs with horse hair and/or cotton were the best mattresses. What a shame that we've all just decided to accept total crap from all these mattress companies.

Just chiming in to say that I, too, am looking for a basic innerspring mattress with little to no foam of any kind. Over the last 10 years I have purchased 4 different mattresses, costing thousands and thousands of dollars. The first had a pillow top, which destroyed my back, the next couple were innerspring without a pillow top but had tons of foam above the springs. These are TERRIBLE. the foam indents after about 6 months to a year and exacerbated the back problem and I am now on one that is mostly innerspring but is hard as a rock! My back thanks me for this, but it’s not the most comfortable sleep. The best mattresses I have ever had were the basic ones I bought at Costco in the late 1990’s. I can’t remember if they are Serta or Sealy, but they are fantastic and were only about 299 to 399 as I recall. Took them home right from the store. I still go into a guest room where we have a queen one and sleep there sometimes. WHY CANT MANUFACTURERS MAKE THESE AGAIN? I’ll pay whatever it takes! - Though it should be cheap and easy. Currently looking for a new mattress for an extra guest room in a new house. Everything I have seen, at any price, is crap. Tons of foam or hard as a rock. They start with a super firm innerspring and just add foam and raise the price to make it more “plush”. HORRIBLE. Just give me a basic, medium, innerspring mattress. Please.

I ended up getting Naturepedic's EOS mattress without latex. It is soft enough for me (I'm a side sleeper) and does not have any latex, memory foam, or foam, so it sleeps cool. It's the only mattress that has worked for me. Good luck in your mattress search. It's tiring, right?