Dunlop vs Talalay layers - perceived softness?

Mattress Talk General Mattresses Questions
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Hello again!

I posted a while back trying to make some decisions about biting the bullet and switching to DIY latex from my nightmare Purple mattress.

I’m 5’4", roughly 135-140lb. I carry most of my weight in my lower half. I also have some chronic pain conditions that make me particularly sensitive to softness, comfort, and support in a mattress. With that out of the way, onto the context -

I had been using a soft talalay 3" topper (19 ILD) from Latex Mattress Factory over our Purple Hybrid Premier 3 for about a month and it was SO soft - probably too soft honestly…

The mattress was sagging, and despite the topper relieving all of my lower body pain and the numbness in my arms, I was left with a fair amount of neck pain. I suspect that was a combination of the failing Purple mattress creating a too soft/unsupportive environment paired with my previous pillow combination being now too high with my shoulder sinking in so much more.

I finally decided to purchase 2 more 3" layers of latex from SleepEZ, and the knit cover from SleepOnLatex to create an actual functional mattress. I REALLY love the Talalay feel on the top layer, and I even have a Talalay pillow, but I figured I should start with Dunlop for my transition and support layers to ensure I wasn’t depriving myself of support by going TOO squishy (and also to save on costs a bit, since Talalay does tend to be more expensive).

So as of now, I have the following setup:

  • Platform: Ekko platform from KD Frames (a pretty basic wooden slat foundation - 2.5" spacing between the slats)
  • Bottom: 3" Firm (37-40 ILD) Dunlop from SleepEZ
  • Middle: 3" Medium (30-32 ILD) Dunlop from SleepEZ
  • Top: 3" Soft (19 ILD) Talalay from LMF
  • Cover: Luxury knit cotton topper cover from SOL

With that, while I’ve slept well the last couple of days, I was pretty surprised at how much firmer overall the setup is! The soft talalay comfort layer definitely still does its job in preventing arm/shoulder compression, and overall I do feel supported and comfortable. I think it’s a very passable setup thus far!

I could probably live with this without much issue, but I guess I just miss that squishy soft cloud feeling a bit. I wouldn’t want it to be as soft as the topper + Purple, but somewhere in between the two would take this from a solid 85-90% to 95-100&%, y’know?

Obviously comfort is subjective, but I’m considering switching my medium Dunlop for a medium Talalay of the same firmness and I was curious if the wise folks here think that would make a noticeable difference in the squishy/cloud-like feeling.

I know Dunlop tends to “get firmer faster” than Talalay at the same ILD. So my thought was that a 30-32 ILD Talalay transition layer might give me that softer feel while still providing the support I need.

But packing up a layer return is kind of a workout, so I wanted to see if y’all had any opinions on how noticeable that change is likely to be before I go through the trouble. :slight_smile:

Appreciate the time and effort, as always!

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Side note - I just noticed LMF’s medium topper would be 28 ILD, while SleepEZ’s is 30-32.

Would a 28 ILD vs a 30-32 ILD be significantly different in either Talalay or Dunlop? Either way I still think I’m leaning towards Talalay for that delightful squish feeling, but I’m not totally sure how much of a different a a couple ILD would make :thinking:

Each store only allows one return of that product type within a 12 month period, as well, so I’m trying to be extra careful with my experiments so as not to lose out hundreds of dollars if it doesn’t work out.

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I hope it’s ok to do this, but I was just going to reply here once more in hopes of “boosting” this post and maybe gaining some attention! I’d really love to hear other’s thoughts :slight_smile:

@Sleep_EZ

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Hi Rowan0 and thanks for the orders and thanks for reaching out on this! I’m so sorry for the delayed response but we’ve been short-staffed all week. The general consensus in the latex industry is that the average person isn’t sensitive to notice a difference in ILD’s unless there’s a 4 point difference or greater, so I doubt you’ll notice a difference in a 28 ILD versus a 30 ILD, and even if you do, it won’t be a big difference.

Aside from that, if you want a moderate increase in plushness and pressure relief, changing the 3" medium Dunlop to a 3" medium Talalay would be a good choice, whereas is you want a big increase in plushness, my advice would be to get a medium Dunlop layer to go inside the mattress cover (so you’ll have medium Dunlop/medium Dunlop/firm Dunlop inside the mattress cover) and put the soft layer on top of the mattress like a topper.

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