How to choose your mattress firmness
The question we hear most often in the showroom is not “which is your best mattress”. It is “should I go firmer”. Those are two completely different questions. A firm mattress is not a better-made mattress, and a soft one is not a mattress that will sag. Firmness describes a feel, not a level of durability.
What makes the choice hard is that there is no industry standard. One maker’s “firm” can be another’s “semi-firm”. So here is how we approach it in our own workshop, and what should actually guide your decision.
What firmness actually changes
Firmness decides how far you settle into the mattress before the support layer stops you. On a soft surface, shoulders and hips sink further and the spine follows a deeper curve. On a firm surface, you stay higher and the body stays flatter.
Neither one is correct in the abstract. What matters is that your spine stays aligned in the position you spend most of the night in. That is why sleeping position is the first thing to look at.
Start with your sleeping position
- On your side. The shoulder and hip are the widest points of the body. Too firm a surface pushes them back up and leaves a gap under the waist. A soft or semi-firm surface lets them settle in.
- On your back. Weight is spread more evenly and the gap to fill is the small of the back. Semi-firm and firm both work here, depending on the feel you want.
- On your stomach. A surface that gives way arches the lower back. This is the position that calls for the most firmness.
- You move around a lot. Look for a surface that springs back quickly rather than one that holds the shape of your body.
Weight matters as much as position
Two people who sleep in the same position will not feel the same firmness on the same mattress. The greater the weight, the more the comfort layers compress and the more you feel the support beneath them. A mattress one person reads as semi-firm can read as soft to someone else. That is one reason we build each layer separately instead of selling a single firmness scale.
When the two of you disagree
This is the most common situation, and it is where buying from the maker changes something. On several of our models the comfort layers are chosen one at a time, and the top panel closes with a zipper. If the firmness you chose turns out to be wrong, the layers can be changed without replacing the whole mattress.
Two models give you the most room to work with here. If your real problem is feeling the other person move, look instead at the pocket-coil models, where each spring works on its own.
Why fifteen minutes in the showroom beats a spec sheet
Firmness is the one thing about a mattress you cannot judge on paper. Materials, dimensions and construction all read fine in writing. Feel does not. Take the time to lie down in the position you actually sleep in, not on your back out of politeness, and stay there for a few minutes.
Our mattresses are built in our Montreal workshop and you can try them there. If you are still torn between two firmness levels, say so. That is exactly the kind of detail we adjust before anything is built.
