Mattress
I have an organic latex mattress by OrganicPedic by OMI. Latex mattresses or a combination of latex and wool are the way to go in my opinion. It’s kinda like a foam mattress, but without all the chemicals. It’s so ridiculous how companies can keep things hidden. ‘Memory foam’ mattresses or polyurethane foam is made primarily of compounds derived from petrochemicals. It’s basically like laying on a bed of chemicals every night and we all know that we spend around 30% of our lives sleeping. I had a memory foam mattress, 2 actually. The first one I didn’t notice any problems and paid around $3000 for it. The more recent second mattress was around $4500 and I would wake up achy and I couldn’t breath properly. I know it was from the mattress because I travelled a lot and when I was anywhere else I slept fine. I believe the mattress also affected the air quality in my home. Come to find out that I wasn’t the only one with these issues. The manufacturer is under a class action lawsuit and I was able to have the mattress picked up and was refunded almost the entire cost. This was just this past August.
Obasan, the bed I wanted to get was going to take too long and I needed a bed fast. It’s really a long story, blah… Ivy Organics is a L.A. based brand that I was also looking into and is very affordable. There are many other options out there, but do your research and make sure it’s organic. I would personally stay away from mattresses with any kind of metal in it. There is some information out there (and organic mattress companies are well educated on this) that states the metal acts as a radiation antenna that amplifies electromagnetic waves. Some electromagnetic radiation has been linked to certain cancers. Again, do your own research. I’m just relaying what I’ve heard.
The Bed
I got my bed (frame and headboard) custom-made from a small ‘Mom & Pop’ spot called Green Cradle in Sherman Oaks, CA. It’s called the Elliot bed and it’s made from all organic materials (wood and wool I believe). The main thing to look out for in a bed, frame, or headboard is that it’s not sprayed with chemical flame retardants and that it’s not made from manufactured wood. The bed is beautifully made and feels super crispy and clean, but it cost $5200 and took too long to receive. I would check out Viesso instead. Another problem with buying an expensive item from a small businesses is their return or refund policy. I feel better to know I can cancel my order or return something if I change my mind or I’m not happy with it.
Bedding
My pillows ($209 & $159) , mattress protector ($350), and comforter ($499.00) I got from Obasan. My sheet set is silk from Manito and cost $900. The duvet cover was about $200 from Urban Outfitters via my interior designer. I also, bought some pillow cases from LovaSilk. Another site to check is ElleSilk.
Benefits of Silk Sheets
- Silk helps your body regulate temperature, which means a comfortable sleeping experience, whether it’s a hot summer night or a cold winter one.
- Silk promotes healthy skin as it can reduce the appearance of facial lines. Using a silk pillowcase is gentler and less likely than cotton to resist the face and cause wrinkles
- Silk is naturally hypo-allergenic and is naturally resistant to dust mites, fungus, mold, and other allergens.
- Silk is a natural fabric for a comfortable and safe sleep.
- Silk can help keep your hair soft, moisturized, and free of tangles. Sleeping on a cotton pillowcase will cause hair to bunch, knot, and get staticky.
- Free of any potentially irritating added chemicals.
- Silk helps decrease skin’s loss of moisture and is better tolerated than other fabrics by people with sensitive skin. Synthetic fibers, wools, and even some cottons that may contain small, stiff, woven fibers that can cause irritation.
- A beauty tip for women is to wrap a silk scarf around your head when you sleep (I don’t do this but I need to try)
- Silk underwear may reduce itching, redness associated with recurrent vaginal yeast infections, and even anti-aging I read somewhere!
Some of these benefits you may be able to gain via satin sheets as well. Oh, my bed is also resistant to negative energy, bad dreams, and dumbasses, lol. Sleep tight.
I’d like to sit have some wine and have a deep conversation with you maybe talk about books and other interesting stuff ??
I hadn’t read about silk being resistant to dust mites… Good to know! The bedroom and bed itself needs to be maintained correctly for dust mite allergy sufferers. Thanks for the tips!
Hi Again Moon,
Interesting post above. You kinda remind me of me in a lot of ways. You like to throw things out there to challenge people, or play devil’s advocate. My type of person. 🙂
You didn’t come out and explicitly say the bedding thing was harmful, though you did mention that some feel that metal acts as an antenna to amplify these EM radiations. Which was what those three articles/links were about. I am an analyst, so, I like to learn and research.
Whether I had an internet here or not, I would have tried to research the idea. I should warn you I have a brain and a sense of humor and seem to have been installed with that rare option called “common sense”.
What you are talking about above is what I would know as’ genetic memory’. I knew just enough to be informed, but did more reading. So, you are inspiring me. Genetic memory if different from instinct. There is enough DNA in our cells and enough brain to have a lot of basic skills to be built in. There are more thing in heaven and earth, Horatio, than can be explained by your philosophy (to quote Wild Bill Shakespeare) We don’t know everything and we learn a lot from people who have learned from someone making mistakes. But, there are some things that we seem to be installed with that are weird that we have them as part of us. Music, art, math, language. Stuff that is useful, but we don’t seem to have access too right off the bat. I would crave the ability to learn languages outside of computer languages. Japanese or Korean or Mandarin. or Spanish… I tried to learn on my own. Math took awhile, but I am decent with it, especially seeing as I have a degree in it. They tackle this with studying savants.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/genetic-memory-how-we-know-things-we-never-learned1/
and
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/where-do-savant-skills-come-from/
But, you are right about it being more comfortable to curl up on a big soft bed like thing, than the mattress we usually end up on.
Makes ya wonder why we are in beds with frames and such. I was going to add a racy comment here, but I’ll behave. I know I tend to like having a bunch of pillows to arrange as I need and for my comfort.
Our pre-historic selves probably did go for the soft side of things. Probably why we like to cuddle together when we can. Besides the warmth, etc.
Ok, Am rambling enough. I had some other thoughts that were totally off on a tangent, but I’ll wait.
Be good.
Reg…
PS: like the agent Provac. stuff you posted.
You are very connected to the environment, I look forward to sharing my new Clean and Green initiative with you some time. LA needs people to help others green their homes and lifestyles.
Hi Reg,
I don’t believe I said it was harmful or did I? I can’t remember. Here is how I am trying to look at things thou…I don’t think we have to rely on Google for everything, I think all the knowledge we really need we already have in us, however most of us have not tapped into certain parts of the brain, for example the mid-brain. Let’s say you were in pre-historic times and had access to certain resources; cotton from living plants, wool naturally brushed off some cute sheep, some freshly cut wood and some metal. Wouldn’t you choose the soft, cozy stuff and save the metal for some other purpose? I just like to bring up some issues for people to think about. Thanks for commenting!
Moon
Yes, its me again, the guy who commented over on your organic cotton blog.
I read some of this and I’ll take your word on the silk/satin observations until I look into it more.
Wouldn’t I keep slipping off the bed if it was all silk/satin? ok.. bad joke, but I did enjoy the comment about dumb-ass free.
But, what you wrote about the metal in beds caught my eye and I did some reading. Found one article, which was more of an opinion piece in Scientific America (link below)
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/left-sided-cancer-blame-your-bed-and-tv/
and then there was a bunch of other articles based on this opinion piece, which I did not bother to read more than a couple because they all said the same thing, except for this one from Discovery Mag. (link below)
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2010/07/28/wacky-theory-bed-coils-amplify-radio-tv-transmissions-and-cause-cancer/#.WDs5m167pGE
which said that the original article misinterpreted the findings.
and all of this seems to be based on this research piece (link below)
http://www.pathophysiologyjournal.com/article/S0928-4680(09)00088-1/abstract
I’ll leave it to you to read over if if you like.
The whole metal and transmission thing does make sense. Look at the antennas on cars and tvs and radios; there is a reason they are the length they are. But there is metal all around us. In the walls of our houses (wiring) and and there is even wires in bras. When Electricity runs through any metal, it generates an electric field. Our planet has one.
And really, visible light is electromagnetic radiation, it just happens to be at the wavelength that our eyes can perceive.
On that note, I’ll give you a break from my ramblings. I like reading your stuff; its thought provoking. I might not agree totally, but I respect your views. Take care
Reg…
I ❤️️ that bed and crave all benefits, however shame that bed looks so empty and wonder sex performance.
Thanks ?? for the blog