I am just curious what type of sleeper are the members on this list. I am a side sleeper and I like very firm beds with a very small amount of cushion on top to cushion my hips and shoulders. I also like Latex pillows but ones not too firm and not too high.  I am petite and most mattress websites and mattress stores think a petite person should like a very soft bed. I love my FloBed but I really feel that website should add more questions to their latex layer configuration and change it to start out firmer and change it to be more in tune to the preference of the buyer than what they think a person likes. They had me at soft over soft. I then ordered in May 2007 Medium over Firm over Extra Firm and found this combination way too soft for me. I am now sleeping (changed it again last night) on 1" soft latex topper over 39 ILD (36 ILD Extra Firm but averaged out to 39 ILD) over 36 ILD over 44 ILD.  I wish my 36 ILD was a 39 ILD also but otherwise I am comfortable.  I am just glad I was able to have so many exhanges and then after my car accident to have more time to make more changes since I learned having back pain from a car accident may change preferences.

"Most of the people on this forum liked their mattresses softer at the shoulders. I really like it firmer--almost hard. If the mattress feels soft it makes my back ache across the shoulder blades."

Depends on body type/shape and sleep position. If back sleeper, too soft at shoulders may result in spine/center sinking and arms floating, thus pain. If narrower shouldered, doesn't need to be as soft when on side to keep spine aligned/parallel to floor. However, it's also possible (again, just possible) that the soft mattress which makes your back ache across the shoulders, is due more to your hips sinking too much, but creating the kink higher up. From your present set up, almost sounts like that may be the case.

BeddyBye wrote:
I got my mattress from Savvy Rest - there's a long thread called "Savvy Rest report" that goes into a lot of boring detail if you are interested. The people at Savvy Rest told me about the soft side/ firm side thing. I'm just guessing about the ILDs on each side. As I understand it - Dunlop settles in the 6 inch mold more densely in the bottom - so the bottom is firmer and denser than the top. There is sort of a soft "crust" on the outside of the latex - so when they cut the cores into 3 inch layers, there is an "inside" and an "outside" - like cutting into a loaf of Wonderbread. The "inside" is the softer side on my layers. Each layer has a soft "inside" and a firmer "outside".

So - the big disadvantage of Dunlop is supposed to be that it is less consistent than Talalay but it becomes an advantage if you can reconfigure it in the layers. The Dunlop ILDs are rough estimates - not as exact as the Talalay measurements because the firmness is inconsistent within each core.

Lynn2006 wrote:
We have a very sturdy maple futon platform that has 1x4 slats that are about an inch apart - so it is quite solid, without a lot of flex.

Mattressmom, that base sounds ideal for latex. I only tried a latex topper and I did not like the feel of it but the latex cores under a topper sound great with the bottom being firmer and that would be ideal for those that like firm beds.  Thanks for sharing.

cloud9 wrote:
I don't know... It might depend a lot on what kind of cover they used. I got naked six inch Dunlop cores for each of my kids and there is a noticeable difference from one side to the other. But I would guess the difference would be a lot less noticeable if they were covered by a real mattress cover. I think older Dunlop mattresses used the six inch cores so one side must have been slightly firmer because of the way Dunlop settles in the molds. It probably wasn't such a big difference that you would notice it under a mattress cover unless you were really looking for it.

The difference from one side of my layers to the other isn't as big as the difference between the soft, medium and firm layers. More like a half a notch difference - if that makes sense. I doubt you would notice much difference from side to side in a 1" or 2" layer.

I just noticed that the 3 inch sample of Dunlop (I assume that's what it is) that Savvy Rest sent me looks similar to how you described it. The top is smoother with larger holes making it almost look wavy or dimpled. The sides look more porous and one side has those grooved lines going down. The bottom is flat, but has a few smalle holes much the way Talalay's are. I can see outlines where the rest of the holes didn't punch through.

mattressmom wrote:
I got my mattress from Savvy Rest - there's a long thread called "Savvy Rest report" that goes into a lot of boring detail if you are interested. The people at Savvy Rest told me about the soft side/ firm side thing. I'm just guessing about the ILDs on each side. As I understand it - Dunlop settles in the 6 inch mold more densely in the bottom - so the bottom is firmer and denser than the top. There is sort of a soft "crust" on the outside of the latex - so when they cut the cores into 3 inch layers, there is an "inside" and an "outside" - like cutting into a loaf of Wonderbread. The "inside" is the softer side on my layers. Each layer has a soft "inside" and a firmer "outside".

So - the big disadvantage of Dunlop is supposed to be that it is less consistent than Talalay but it becomes an advantage if you can reconfigure it in the layers. The Dunlop ILDs are rough estimates - not as exact as the Talalay measurements because the firmness is inconsistent within each core.

mccldwll wrote:
I've been trying to figure this problem out ever since I ran into it with the latex mattress. Prior to that I could always feel the extra firm support of my old mattress through all the layers of added padding. I'm actually rather broad shouldered, and it seems to be connected to the way my shoulder gets positioned on a harder surface when side sleeping. Sort of folded over and lying more on the back side of my arm. On a softer mattress my shoulder seems to press straight down, and that's when I start to feel the discomfort across my shoulder blades.

mattressmom wrote:

That's probably why none of us ever noticed there was any difference. The latex was incased in a mattress cover so that you never actually saw any visual difference from side to side. Then when you place a mattress pad over that it further blurs any slight variation. Those old cores were only 4 1/2 or 5" thick.

BeddyBye wrote:
Savvy Rest usually sends samples of the medium Dunlop and soft natural Talalay as well as a piece of the mattress cover top. They don't use the blended Talalay.

Mattressmom, that is great to know that Savvy Rest sends samples. I wish I knew I could request samples from FloBeds since I found out from this site that I could have. That would have saved me on returning several latex cores as I would have had a better idea what firmness I would like by feeling the samples and maybe only had two latex core exchanges.  We all learn from one another and Savvy Rest also sounds like a great place to buy a bed.  I am happy with FloBeds but it looks like other companies are options for others that would like to try Dunlap Latex.  So far I prefer the Talalay Latex since the cleaning process makes it a latex that does not bother my allergies and I guess I did not like the feel of the Dunlap topper that Dave had sent to me. But who knows if i would have liked it as a latex core base since it does sound like it is firmer at the bottom.