We’ve all seen and heard about the benefits of this miracle product and want to try it for a good night’s sleep. But like many things in life not all memory foams are created equal.
Here at The Foam Shop®, we’ve taken customer education seriously since 1974 and want to help clear the air on the differences between high-quality and lower-quality memory foam to help you make informed decisions.
The Foam Shop® Facts
The technical name for a true memory foam is visco-elastic foam. While that sounds important, it’s not as important as knowing that there are two basic types:
Temperature sensitive memory foam – this type of foam springs back to shape slowly once it’s compressed and is the true memory foam. While this type of foam comes in models from firm to soft, the key is its sensitivity to temperature. Simply put, these foams adapt their firmness based on body heat, allowing them to cradle you, providing that wonderful feeling that you’re “floating” on top of the mattress as it supports your weight evenly and reduces potential pressure points.
Air flow restricted memory foam – this type of foam is also designed to slowly bounce back to compression but in this case it’s through a different method – restricting air flow in the foam’s cell structure. The result is a foam that struggles to bounce back or adapt to your pressure points once it’s been compressed, resulting in a less comfortable, less restful sleep. It also produces a hotter sleep, since air has trouble moving through the product to expel the extra warmth.
Memory Foam Fiction
A squeeze tells the whole story
It can be difficult for the average consumer to tell the difference between the cheaper-to-manufacture air flow restricted foam and temperature sensitive foam simply by squeezing it. That’s why it’s important to ask questions about any memory foam product you’re considering buying, and check the product specifications on the box.
The heavier the memory foam, the better the quality
While foam density can definitely have a bearing on the quality of the product, it’s important to know where this weight comes from. In some cases, foam manufacturers add clay particles to their memory foam, increasing its density but again reducing the airflow of the mattress. Not only does the foam cell structure of this “loaded” foam break down more quickly, but it also makes for a less comfortable sleep.
All memory foam is treated equally before you buy it
Foam products are bulky. They take up a lot of space on the shelf, so they are expensive to stock. In an effort to reduce these storage costs, some manufacturers, and even some retailers, now keep their foam products compressed on the shelf waiting to be shipped or sold.
These long term storage savings come at a price to the customer: the foam’s performance and your comfort. Memory foam isn’t meant to remain compressed for extended periods of time. This damages the cell structure of the foam causing the product to lose its ability to bounce back.
Our test results show that after two months of compression, memory foam can lose up to 60% of its ability to perform. Despite this, some retailers are still selling compressed foam products well beyond the six-month mark. At The Foam Shop, we love our foams, so we keep them protected, uncompressed, and full of comfort. We exercise a safe, compress-to-order shipping system, which dramatically minimizes product compression time, protects the comfort and quality of our foams, and saves you money on shipping costs.
The Foam Shop® Promise
Our Cloud 9 Memory foam is held to the following quality standards:
- Cloud 9 Memory foam is a true, temperature sensitive, visco-elastic memory foam, giving it a glass transition temperature range of 21 -32 degrees Celsius.
- Cloud 9 Memory foam is not an air restricted memory foam, allowing proper temperature regulation to keep you comfortable.
- We do not sell loaded foams at The Foam Shop®
- Our Cloud Series memory foams have never compromised or compressed for storage.