What you need to know about fiberglass in mattresses
When you snuggle into bed after a long day, you’re probably not giving too much thought to the materials in your mattress. We don’t want to give you more concerns to keep you up at night, but it is time for a frank discussion about a certain less than ideal mattress component. Get on in here to talk about it, Frank!
There’s a pretty good possibility that the mattress you sleep on every night has fiberglass in it. Yes, fiberglass — the material used in insulation, roofing, and aircraft, among other applications. Somehow this jack-of-all-trades material found its way into mattresses, too.
And (spoiler) you probably don’t want it there. Here’s why.
Could there really be fiberglass hiding in here? (Answer: no)
Why do manufacturers put fiberglass in mattresses?
Manufacturers put fiberglass in mattresses for a pretty simple reason — it’s cheap.
“What? Manufacturers are cutting corners and using suboptimal materials in their products to save money? I’m so shocked!” said absolutely no one.
Just because it’s not surprising that many mattress brands use fiberglass to bring down their production costs doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. There are class action lawsuits in the works against manufacturers who used fiberglass in their mattresses and didn’t disclose the risks to their customers.
Manufacturers will tell you that they use fiberglass in mattresses because it acts as a flame retardant. Mattresses can be flammable so the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission requires manufacturers to include some kind of flame retardant in each mattress. Fiberglass isn’t the only flame retardant option, though, and it’s certainly not the best.
Dangers of fiberglass
Fiberglass in a mattress actually isn’t dangerous until it gets out of the mattress. A mattress with fiberglass in it is like Pandora’s box in a way — you really want to make sure nothing escapes or you could be in for a world of problems. Doesn’t that sound fun?
Unfortunately, it’s easy for the fiberglass to get out of your mattress and into the air when you take your mattress cover off. Some people have alleged that fiberglass can also leak through the sheets over time. Either way, once the fiberglass is out of your mattress, it poses a danger to your health and your belongings.
No way to hide from fiberglass in the air — not even with a perfect purple S&G eye mask
Fiberglass exposure can cause health concerns like nose and throat irritation, red eyes, rashes, and asthma. Fiberglass in the air also has the potential to permanently damage your electronics, appliances, and clothes.
The solution
The solution to the problem of fiberglass in mattresses seems pretty simple — make mattresses without it! So that’s exactly what we did.
Our eucalyptus mattress is made of lots of great components like eucalyptus (obviously), Talalay latex, and individually wrapped steel coils. What it isn’t made out of is fiberglass. You can scour the list of materials in the Sheets & Giggles mattress with a magnifying glass like some kind of old-timey detective and you still won’t find any fiberglass.
Pick up your own eucalyptus mattress today to put those fiberglass concerns to bed (lol) once and for all.
Jump on it, sleep on it, bop it — there's still no fiberglass coming out of this mattress cause there's none in it!