Knowing that we spend a third of our time in bed, it’s important to make it a pleasant experience.
It’s this need for a good night’s sleep that the wool mattress offers a solution that is often overlooked. Sleeping on a sheep’s wool mattress has many benefits for your sleep.
The advantages of a pure wool mattress come mainly from the properties of its main material: wool.
Wool mattresses should be considered in the same way as other types of mattress.
The first thing we want to do is share with you, as exhaustively as possible, the advantages and disadvantages of this type of mattress so that you can make an informed decision.
The sleeping comfort of a pure wool mattress is well established. But it’s also worth clarifying the negative points that surround such a mattress.
The wool mattress has a 100% natural filling with wool as the main material.
Find out all you need to know about wool mattresses, which are not just good for you, but also good for the planet and society.
It’s all about living up to the high standards imposed by the importance of sleep.
The making of a wool mattress follows gestures, techniques, processes and a traditional way of working that time has shaped.
It belongs to the category of natural mattresses. Few can claim to be both natural, chemical-free, ecological and ethical.
A wool mattress benefits above all from the qualities of wool. Wool has extremely interesting properties for sleep comfort, as it is:
- thermally insulating and regulating
- flexible
- lightweight
- elastic
- crease-resistant
- easy to maintain
- antistatic
- natural
- healthy
- long lasting
- hygroscopic (absorbs moisture)
- sound insulating
- hypoallergenic
- naturally fire-resistant
- filtering
If that sounds like a lot of theory, what about real life? To read what our customers say, see our wool mattress reviews.
8 simple questions for a comfortable sleep combined with a healthy space.
Guiding you toward the essential information we need to help you estimate your project.
To sum up the advantages and disadvantages of the wool mattress
A wool mattress offers controlled, long-lasting comfort and natural thermal regulation, but it can feel too firm, look uneven and be sensitive to damp.
| Advantages of the wool mattress | Disadvantages of the wool mattress |
|---|---|
| Controlled, long-lasting comfort | Uneven look caused by the tufting |
| Natural thermal regulation, summer and winter | Firmness sometimes too pronounced for some sleepers when it is badly calibrated |
| 100% natural and healthy | Thinner than industrially made mattresses |
| Hypoallergenic and breathable | Comfort perceived differently depending on your habits |
| Repairable and recyclable | Sensitive to customization and to the choice of box spring |
The advantages of a wool mattress
The wool mattress offers a comfortable sleeping experience thanks mainly to:
- The puffy and springy nature of wool
- the tailor-made approach to its manufacture
According to the sleeper’s comfort preferences
The comfort of your mattress is adaptable thanks to customized manufacturing.
The firmness of a pure wool mattress, for example, can be adjusted using 2 parameters:
- the amount of wool used
- the number of tufts
The personalized approach to manufacturing wool mattresses is the first differentiating factor.
This allows the bedding to be designed with comfort in mind. The guiding principle is to give your back the support it needs.
We spend a lot of time in bed.
We are seeing more and more people suffering from back problems.
All of this may go some way to explaining consumers’ particular demands in terms of comfort.
The creation of a tailor-made mattress begins with the essential human need for sleep, placing comfort at the center of the equation.
This is one of the core principles of the Le Briand workshop.
The traditional mattress manufacturer can adjust 9 functional parameters that influence the comfort of the sleeping experience:
- Shape
- Dimensions
- Overall height
- Cushioning
- Support
- Bounciness
- Thermal insulation
- Humidity regulation
- The mobility of the sleeping surface
The wool mattress is calibrated to suit you.
As much as possible, the mattress is customized according to your sleeping preferences (and not the other way around) to create a piece that matches your expectations in terms of comfort.
To get as close as possible to what suits you, there’s a support and advice stage prior to production that helps us to fully understand your concept of well-being.
Unlike an industrial mattress, a wool mattress can be reworked after production to firm it up, for example.
A wool mattress provides cushy comfort with firm, enveloping support. You’ll feel like you’re sleeping on a cloud!
A cozy sleep
As well as being able to control comfort parameters with a tailor-made approach, the wool mattress provides a cozy, cushy sleeping experience:
- A cozy feel. A wool mattress always feels like a cushy surface.
- It molds to the shape of your body over time.
- It deforms very little and holds the back well over time.
- It follows your movements throughout the night.
In addition to being comfortable and cushy, it offers excellent thermal regulation.
Temperature-controlled system
Thanks to the properties of wool and its structure, your wool mattress will keep you comfortable throughout the night, ensuring you sleep soundly and dryly in both summer and winter.
Firstly, the wool mattress regulates the temperature of your bed perfectly.
This means you won’t feel any heat.
Wool is a temperature regulator.
It then absorbs all the water vapor you generate from sweating or breathing during the night.
While retaining its flexibility and puffiness, wool absorbs up to 60% of its weight in moisture (an average of 0.5 liters per night), which eliminates any sensation of cold dampness.
The combination of absorption and regulation properties often means that you don’t sweat, so you don’t feel hot or cold in both summer and winter.
The wool in your mattress will dry out from this night-time moisture during the day, even more so if you leave your bed open and air out the room.
A wool mattress has the ability to store your body heat, which is wonderful for winter nights.
It will absorb the coolness of the night on summer nights and pass it on to you.
Good for your health
Studies have even shown that when we sleep on a wool mattress, our heart rate is more regular than when we sleep on a synthetic fiber mattress.
This is due to thermal regulation, which means that the mattress is less charged with static electricity, putting less strain on the heart.
The wool mattress therefore benefits from the health virtues of wool.
A healthy space
An entirely natural wool mattress means you won’t suffer from any toxic fumes. You sleep in a healthy environment, free from compounds that could pollute your home.
The only treatment it has received is a wash, making it the most environmentally-friendly mattress available.
Easy maintenance
Wool is also antistatic and retains little dust.
The longevity of a wool mattress for more responsible consumption
Firstly, they are made from an eco-friendly raw material. Sheep’s wool is produced locally, with respect for the environment and the animal.
It is natural, renewable, recyclable and biodegradable.
They are designed to limit the mattress’s carbon footprint. They require very little energy to produce, as:
- the raw material (sheep’s wool) is ready for use.
- Production is traditional and only a few operations are mechanized.
The lifespan of a wool mattress is exceptional because:
- Wool fiber retains its full properties for a long time. That’s why a mattress keeps its plumpness for around 10 years, ensuring good support during our nights.
- The wool is reusable to make the mattress as good as new again thanks to refurbishing operations.
Therefore, you can have your mattress refurbished every 8 to 12 years or so, to restore the softness of a new mattress.
A mattress like this can be kept for more than 50 years before needing to be changed, because it resists pressure so well and because it can be remade.
The natural wool mattress is therefore economical bedding because you can keep your mattress for a lifetime!
Choosing a pure wool mattress means opting for an eco-friendly option.
But does a wool mattress only have advantages? Or are there disadvantages? Are they really that restrictive? Let’s find out.
You didn’t even imagine that such a mattress solution was possible.
8 simple questions to help you relearn how to sleep well
Guiding you toward the essential information we need to help you estimate your project.
Disadvantages of wool mattresses
Let’s hide nothing. Because perfection does not exist — no more than a five-legged sheep does.
There are even several “disadvantages”, if you believe what is said and written on the internet and elsewhere.
If you wanted to explore this subject before buying, it’s because you too have reservations, doubts or misgivings. Let’s talk openly about these supposed obstacles without falling into caricature.
Discover the disadvantages of wool mattresses, straight up.
- Heritage image
- Price
- Thickness
- Surface
- Firmness
- Little bugs
- Warm weather
- The associated box spring
- The settling
- The maintenance
- The weight
- The running-in
It is essential to be aware of the drawbacks before buying a product of this type. It’s also the bedding manufacturer’s role to address even the ‘less attractive’ aspects, so as to provide customers with the best possible support.
That’s why we’ve listed them here, and we wanted to offer even more depth on the disadvantages of wool mattresses in another article.
And you’ll be amazed at just how much these disadvantages are far outweighed by the ability to enjoy a full and restful night’s sleep on a traditional wool mattress.
So there are few obstacles to choosing a wool mattress, except perhaps the cost.
Even this point can be put into perspective by looking at the price of using the mattress (and not just the ‘face’ price).
Given that a wool mattress is made by hand, individually and bespoke, its price is quite reasonable compared with those charged by the major bedding manufacturers.
But above all, a wool mattress can be “restored”. Every ten years or so, it is remade, using the same wool. The remade mattress behaves exactly like a new one, and for 50% of the price of a new one. In the same time, the industrial mattress would have been thrown away and a new one bought at the full price.
Looking at the long term and the objective qualities of the product, a wool mattress is relatively inexpensive and a good investment for your sleep.
Despite these negative points, the benefits of our wool mattress outweigh them for most sleepers
You see, the disadvantages of the wool mattress aren’t so hard to fathom. It’s even better to reconnect with an object that’s so essential to sleep.
8 simple questions to re-enchant our nights.
Guiding you toward the essential information we need to help you estimate your project.
In conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages of the wool mattress
Looking at the advantages and disadvantages of a wool mattress, the balance tips in favor of the benefits, with undeniable qualities and largely subjective disadvantages.
Sleeping on a wool mattress is good for your health, the quality of your sleep, the environment, and French industry and craftsmanship.
This type of bedding is often criticized. However, let’s not fall into caricatures, as its disadvantages need to be taken into consideration without preconceptions.
If the wool mattress has endured for so many years, and has seen so many generations of sleepers, it’s perhaps because this bedding option is worth at least considering.
Give in to temptation! It would be a shame not to try at least once in your life to give your sleep the best possible companion.
Then it’s the turn of the mattress makers to bring out the best in the mattress so that you can always sleep better.
At the Le Briand workshops, this has been our expertise since 1880.
Experience makes all the difference when it comes to making wool mattresses.