TL;DR: Brooklyn Bedding's all-natural, easy-to-set-up mattress sets the standard for firm mattresses.
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Growing up, I always slept on firm mattresses. I envied my best friend Emma -- who had a TEMPUR-pedic mattress topper -- something fierce. As soon as I was an adult and could choose my own mattress, I went with plushy, sink-right in memory foam and never looked back. So when I got the opportunity to test the Plank Firm Natural Mattress, I was secretly worried my back would not be happy with my mind for agreeing.
However, my mom loves firm mattresses and wanted to replace the 20-year old mattress that was in the guest room. It wasn't that long ago in my life that I was game to sleep on a friend's floor if I had to: I suspected I could weather a firm mattress for a long weekend for the sake of delivering this Plank mattress review.
Given that I have a proclivity for setting low expectations to ward off disappointment, I am someone who absolutely loves to be proven wrong. Wonderfully for me, my experience with the Plank Firm Natural mattress was one of these times in my life. Sleeping on this mattress was not something I simply weathered: I slept like a baby, and finally discovered that "firm" and "comfortable" are not mutually exclusive things.
I've tested enough mattresses in my day that I could probably add Mattress Tester as a title on my resume. All of the mattresses I've tested to date have been of the order-online, mattress-in-a-box variety. The Plank Firm Natural was no exception to this. However, where it did deviate from the crowd was that there was no weird chemical smell when we opened the box, cut the plastic wrap, and unrolled the mattress onto the bedframe.
In my mom's house, the absence of a weird smell was a major win. My mom has asthma, and in the past some of the mattresses have had such a bad chemical smell that she's had an asthma attack and they had to air out in the garage for a week before being used. Meanwhile, I do not have asthma but as a Crunchy Person, I am anti-chemical. The non-smell won big points with me, too.
It wasn't just good luck that there was no chemical smell: the Plank Firm Natural mattress is made out of natural materials. (Duh, it's in the name.) All you'll find here is organic cotton, organic wool, and natural latex. Plank says, "Our exclusive selection of healthy and comfy materials won us the GOTS Certified stamp of approval -- the gold standard of safe and healthy organic fibers. Our materials: organic cotton, organic wool, and natural latex are safe, breathable, and pure." I'm down with that.
The Plank Natural Firm mattress is dual sided, meaning you can choose between one side that's moderately firm (about a 6 on a scale of 1-10) and notably firm (which the brand rates at about an 8). We rolled the mattress out on the moderately firm side. It was a good thing that the moderately firm side passed the Goldilocks test, because my mom and I had no intention of flipping the mattress over. We were proud enough of ourselves for carrying the box into the room and hoisting the rolled-up mattress onto the bed in the first place.
Before I even made the bed and slept on it, I was impressed with the mattress's quality. The material feels soft to the touch and just looks well-made. While you can't see it with your eyes, there are five distinct layers, giving the mattress its unique feel. The top layer and bottom layers are made from breathable quilted cotton and wool. Meanwhile, the second layer is 1.75-inches of premium latex on the medium-firm side (or 1.5-inches on the firm side). According to the brand, these latex layers help relax the body's muscles and relieve tension, relieving pressure while you sleep.
In between the two layers of latex, the core of the mattress features a layer of 6-inch individually encased titancore coils. What do these babies do, one might wonder? The brand says that they provide "superior response and body contouring support while ensuring motion isolation to minimize any sleep disturbance."
I'm here to attest that my sleep was in fact free of disturbance. My shoulders and lower back had been bothering me from long hour spend in the car, but when I laid down the pain wasn't triggered: instead, I felt like I was actually able to decompress, and soon enough I'd drifted off to sleep.
Sometimes when I sleep on firm mattresses, I feel really stiff when I wake up. However, I wasn't stiff at all after sleeping on the Plank Firm Natural. Was it the good work of the contouring coils? Was it the 1.75 inches of latex? Who knows! All I know is that I woke up well rested and physically content.
The Plank Firm Natural has a 10-year warranty.
Brooklyn Bedding has a 120-day trial period. If for some reason you're not happy with your mattress, you can place a return and get a refund. Then, you can shop for a new mattress. Or, you can place your return order and order a new mattress right away -- your refund will be processed in 3-4 business days. There is a $99 return fee for all mattress returns, but the original shipping is free.
According to the brand, a mattress foundation is not necessary, so long as your mattress rests on a surface with "minimal to no flex."