Nolah Natural Mattress Overview

Michael Magnuson

Founder of GoodBed, Leading Mattress Expert

Note: This is not a review. This is an in-depth overview and explanation of the Nolah Natural mattress. We also have an overview of the Nolah Evolution, the company's top-of-the-line mattress, and the Nolah Original.

If you’d prefer to watch rather than read, check out our full Nolah Natural mattress video.

Nolah Natural Mattress 

The Nolah Natural is an 11" mattress made with a high degree of natural comfort materials, along with the certifications to back it up. Its cotton and coal components are certified organic by GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) as sustainably sourced. Its all-natural latex has three important certifications from OEKO-Tex, the Rainforest Alliance, and Eco-INSTITUT to ensure that the natural rubber used to make the latex is responsibly sourced and free from VOCs (volatile organic compounds). 

Materials and Construction

The Nolah Natural is a hybrid mattress, meaning it pairs a pocketed-spring support unit with latex comfort materials on top.

The 8" coil unit has 840 coils in a queen size, with zoned support; the central third of the mattress employs stronger/firmer coils under the hip area to support the heaviest part of your body. Along the long edges of the mattress, there are two rows of narrower and firmer coils as edge support, and they do help. We judged edge support to be very good along the long sides, helpful if you tend to sit or lay on the edge.

On top of the coil unit, you have two layers of 100% natural Talalay latex for a total of 3". The top 2' layer is softer, with an inch of firmer latex below that. Both latex layers have pin-core holes. These are holes punched through the latex and regular intervals. Latex is naturally a dense material, and the holes allow for air to flow more freely through the latex layers, helping move warm air from your body and allow cooler air in. 

More than any other feature, we believe air flow helps keep you cool as you sleep.

The mattress cover includes 100% organic cotton. Stitched into the underside of the cover is a layer of all-natural wool, which also extends down the mattress's sides. Wool serves several purposes. First, it has natural moisture-wicking properties, helping keep you cooler in warm weather and warm in cool weather. 

The wool also performs as a natural fire retardant. You may know that all mattresses sold in the United States are required to have some kind of fire barrier. Many (if not most) mattresses use a silica or fiberglass fire sock to meet the requirement. Nolah instead uses wool, which has natural fire-retarding properties. 

Comfort and Feel

The Nolah Natural mattress has a Medium softness on our scale, meaning it sits right in the middle on our softness spectrum, which ranges from Very Firm to Very Soft. 

It also has a medium level of cushioning depth, meaning there's a blend between feeling like you are sinking deeply into your bed versus feeling like you are floating on top of it. 

Many mattresses these days include memory foam, which can give you a slow, melting-into-the-bed feeling that some people enjoy. The Nolah Natural doesn't include memory foam, however, so there's none of that melting sensation. Rather, latex is a very buoyant material with a natural springy quality. 

Latex also has excellent pressure-relieving qualities, which helps prevent hot spots and joint pain where your "pointy parts" meet the bed, such as elbows and shoulders.

As is often the case for mattresses that have a spring support unit, the Nolah Natural is a pretty bouncy mattress, with deep bounce coming from that spring unit, plus a little surface bounciness from the quick-responding latex. "Bouncy" can sometimes mean motion transfer, but because the fabric-encased springs function independently, we expect motion isolation will be good. That means a partner on one side of the bed is less likely to be disturbed by movements on the other side of the mattress.

Prices

Prices shown are list prices. Remember that GoodBed keeps our site current with the best available discounts on online mattresses, many of which are exclusive discounts for our readers.

Delivery

• Free delivery to door

Nolah includes free delivery, which is not particularly unusual among its competitors. The Nolah bed comes in a big box; the queen size mattress weighs 108 pounds. An optional white-glove delivery is available through a third party.

Returns

• 120-day trial period
• Full refund, including free pickup within trial period

Nolah offers buyers a 120-day trial period. Returns within the trial period are free, with pickup of the mattress included. The company requires you to keep the mattress at least 30 days before initiating a return. See: Details on Nolah trial policy

Warranty

• Warranty Length: 2 years full, then with fees
• Indentation Coverage: 1” and above

One of the biggest, if not THE biggest complaints about any mattress from consumers regards body impressions—the inability of a mattress to spring back, eventually creating a low spot/sinkhole in the mattress. As such, mattress warranties all contain a term defining how big a sag or ‘body impression’ (measured when no one is on the mattress) is considered a defect, and thus covered under the warranty. The industry standard for memory foam mattresses is 3/4" to 1". Nolah has chosen to cover indentations that meet or exceed 1”. Practically speaking, that means any softening or sagging would need to be at least that deep before the warranty would offer you protection.

The "lifetime" warranty includes 2 years of full coverage, with free replacement and shipping. For years 3-10, the company will repair and recover a defective mattress, but the customer pays $99 shipping both ways. Beyond that, the customer pays a percentage of the cost for a replacement mattress, based on years of ownership.