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Organic Bedding

Get this Chemical Mattress Out of Here!

My journey from chemical to organic, in search of healthier sleeping nights

The countdown for getting rid of my 10-year old Sealy Posturepedic mattress has begun. In its’ place, I am looking for a natural mattress substitute; one that is made only with raw certified organic components like cotton and wool and natural rubber latex. For fire proofing – which is required for every mattress sold in the USA, I’ll only consider wool, not chemical fire retardants or a trademarked substitute that the manufacturer sells me as “eco” or “green.”

An unwanted mattress heads to the landfill

One of the easiest parts of this project is that I don’t need to be a chemist to buy an organic mattress. Thank goodness because I can only imagine what kind of toxic soup is brewing inside of my Sealy and how many nasty chemicals are looming within. The mattress gets an “A” for comfort, but for health, I would say it fails miserably.

 

I say to myself – “If I knew then what I know now I would never have bought my Sealy.” But who knew? I certainly didn’t. I’ve never had any bad reactions to my mattress off gassing and I’m not chemically sensitive, so the topic never came up. But, just like I’ve never gotten sick eating conventionally grown food, I largely buy organic because I believe in a healthy lifestyle.

One of the points I want to mention here is that organic food has become much more accessible. I believe Walmart sells organic produce. When I bought my mattress more than a decade ago, the internet wasn’t as evolved, and there were few manufacturers making organic mattresses in the United States. More is happening now.

Now there are many organic mattress manufacturers

Numerous are assemblers, which means that they purchase completed components from various sources; while others (though far fewer) are top to bottom manufacturers, which means that they complete all manufacturing – sewing, quilting and cutting – in house.

However, how quickly can you call one up in your mind? You probably can’t! Not the same story when it comes to manufacturers like Tempurpedic, Serta and Sealy. Most of us have strong brand awareness of these companies; these are some of the key players in the conventional mattress industry.

Please check back soon to learn more about the top organic mattress manufacturers. We will focus on manufacturers located in Canada and the United States.

Regards,

Nicole