Purple mattresses have carved a niche for themselves in the market, offering a unique blend of comfort, support, and innovative design. One of the key concerns for many consumers when choosing a mattress is the presence of fiberglass, a material often used as a fire retardant in many mattresses.
Does Purple Mattress Have Fiberglass?
No, Purple mattresses do not contain fiberglass. Despite the gel top layer that some may think has fiberglass, Purple mattresses are crafted using safer and superior alternatives, ensuring a worry-free sleep experience.
This article dives into the details of why fiberglass is used, its pros and cons, and how Purple stands out in its approach.
The Purple Mattress Brand
Purple mattresses are a leading choice among consumers, known for their innovative design and superior comfort. The brand’s unique selling point is its Purple Grid technology, a hyperelastic polymer gel that adapts to your movements while drawing heat away from your body.
This technology, combined with the mattress’s breathability and thermal conductivity, makes Purple a standout choice for a cooling and responsive sleep experience.
What is Fiberglass?
Fiberglass is a type of reinforced plastic that is strengthened by glass fibers. This material is not only robust and resilient but also highly versatile. It can be found in various everyday items, including cars, house insulation, and potentially, mattresses.
When woven into a fabric known as glass cloth, fiberglass is sometimes used as a fire barrier in lower-quality mattresses.
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Why Would a Mattress Have Fiberglass?
The versatility of fiberglass allows it to be spun into a yarn that can be woven into glass cloth. This material is often used in less expensive mattresses as a fire barrier. Many components of mattresses, especially synthetic fabrics and foams, are highly flammable.
Therefore, all mattresses manufactured in the U.S. must meet certain fire safety regulations, one of which is having a flame retardant beneath the cover. Fiberglass, which melts rather than ignites when exposed to heat, can create a barrier over the foam, preventing it from catching fire.
Drawbacks of Fiberglass
Despite its fire-resistant properties, fiberglass poses several health risks. When exposed to the air, it can release countless tiny glass particles that can float around or coat surfaces. These particles can even enter ventilation systems and be recirculated into the air repeatedly.
Exposure to fiberglass particles can lead to various symptoms. Skin contact can cause rashes and irritation, eye contact can result in dry eye and blurred vision, and inhalation can lead to chronic lung infection and breathing problems. These issues arise because the tiny glass particles cause numerous microscopic cuts on the exposed body parts.
Benefits of Fiberglass
The primary benefit of fiberglass in mattresses is its cost-effectiveness in meeting fire safety regulations. This can result in a cheaper mattress, but the potential health risks associated with fiberglass make it a questionable trade-off.
Fiberglass Alternatives for Mattresses
Fortunately, there are several natural alternatives to fiberglass that mattress companies use to meet fire safety standards. These include materials like silk, thistle, and other plant-based substances. However, wool is perhaps the most common and potentially the best natural fire retardant for mattresses.
Wool is difficult to ignite and can often extinguish flames internally without allowing them to spread. Additionally, wool enhances the comfort of the mattress by adding an extra layer of pressure relief and breathability beneath the cover.
How to Tell if a Mattress Has Fiberglass
Manufacturers are legally required to list their ingredients on a label or white sheet accompanying their mattresses. Therefore, the easiest way to determine if your mattress contains fiberglass is to check the ingredients label.
If you don’t have a label, look at the care instructions for the mattress. If the tag warns against removing the cover, it’s likely that the mattress has a fiberglass fire barrier underneath.
Is Purple a Good Mattress Brand?
Purple is a highly regarded mattress brand. The Purple Grid technology offers a unique solution to overheating and body impression problems. Additionally, Purple avoids using fiberglass as a fire barrier in their mattresses. Instead, they use a specialized silica fabric fire retardant.
This silica fiber is woven into a yarn cocoon, ensuring that no part of the silica is exposed to the surface of the cloth. This prevents skin contact with the silica and, unlike fiberglass, this silica yarn cannot be released into the air.
FAQs
Does the Purple Grid contain fiberglass?
No, the Purple Grid does not contain anyfiberglass. The Purple Grid is made of a hyperelastic gel polymer, which is free of fiberglass. Furthermore, Purple uses a specialized silica fabric as a fire barrier over its mattresses’ internal components.
This silica fabric is a synthetic material, but it is much safer than fiberglass and will not cause health problems.
What is the best fiberglass alternative for a mattress?
The best non-fiberglass fire barrier for a mattress is likely wool. This natural textile is almost impossible to ignite without some kind of accelerant. Furthermore, wool is very good at extinguishing flame internally. This means that even if one small part of a wool garment ignites, it’s very unlikely that the entire garment will burn.
This translates into a superior fire retardant for mattresses. Best of all, wool also increases the comfort of your sleep surface by adding an extra layer of breathability and pressure relief underneath the cover.
Are mattresses containing fiberglass dangerous?
Mattresses that contain fiberglass can indeed be dangerous. Fiberglass can easily work its way through the cover of a mattress and coat your sleep surface in tiny shards of glass. This can leave you with thousands of microscopic cuts all over your skin, eyes, and airways.
This means you can experience irritation and more serious symptoms in all three of these major body systems. For this reason, it’s better to avoid mattresses that contain fiberglass.
Why would a mattress need fiberglass?
The only reason that any mattress would ever contain fiberglass is fire protection. Many of the most common materials used to make mattresses are highly flammable. This means the chances of your mattress igniting while you’re sleeping on it are unacceptably high without some sort of fire mitigation.
Fiberglass is the cheapest option to prevent mattress foams and fabrics from igniting. And this is why it is woven underneath the covers of cheaper mattresses.
Can I remove the fiberglass in my mattress on my own?
You should avoid trying to remove the fiberglass inside your mattress on your own. Not only can you expose yourself to fiberglass, causing multiple symptoms that can be long-lasting. You can also unintentionally make your mattress much more flammable by removing its only fire protection.
If you have a mattress containing fiberglass and can’t afford to replace it, use an impermeable mattress protector instead. Mattress protectors are made to prevent dirt and moisture from making their way into your mattress, but a mattress protector can also prevent fiberglass particles from escaping your mattress at the same time.
Bottom Line
With all the alternatives out there, there’s really no reason to purchase a mattress containing fiberglass. These mattresses are the cheapest of the cheap and can expose you to multiple health risks. It’s better to choose a mattress without fiberglass from the start.
The good news is you’re free as a bird when it comes to purchasing a Purple Mattress because Purple mattresses are entirely free of fiberglass.