Do Helix Mattresses Have Fiberglass?

If you’re new to shopping for a mattress, you may be surprised to learn that any mattress has fiberglass inside it. If you’ve bought mattresses before, this may come as no surprise to you. However, it may come as a surprise to learn just how dangerous fiberglass actually is and why you should avoid it.

Fiberglass exposure can cause all kinds of health issues, from skin and eye irritation to chronic lung problems. This is why it’s so vital for you to choose a mattress that does not contain this harmful material.

With the Helix mattress brand, we have good news and bad news. The good news is Helix does offer fiberglass-free mattress models. The bad news is not all of their mattresses are free from fiberglass.

The Helix Mattress Brand

Helix mattresses may or may not contain fiberglass, depending on which model you choose. The standard models – such as the Sunset and the Moonlight – have FR-inherent fabric that does contain fiberglass. However, unlike with a lot of other fiberglass mattresses, the fiberglass inside this mattress lineup is encased in polyester to eliminate the risk of contact with the skin.

The Helix models that do not contain fiberglass include the Luxe models (like the Midnight Luxe and Dusk Luxe), as well as the Plus model made for big and tall people. The Helix brand Birch also does not use fiberglass in its latex mattresses.

Birch mattresses contain natural ingredients, such as latex and organic cotton. And they use organic wool as a fire barrier. This means if you want a mattress that’s free from fiberglass, you’ll need to stick with the Luxe models. And if you want a mattress free of all synthetic materials, it’s best to look at the Birch lineup.

What is Fiberglass?

Fiberglass is a special type of reinforced plastic that contains microscopic glass shards to give it strength. Fiberglass is found in all kinds of materials in our everyday environment, from our cars to our homes to our sporting equipment.

Most of the time, you don’t have to worry about fiberglass exposure. Sometimes, this is because you’re never actually going to come into contact with fiberglass shards, as is the case with fiberglass insulation. Other times, it’s because the fiberglass comes in a rigid and sturdy form, such as with fiberglass surfboards or kayaks.

The type of fiberglass inside most mattresses is not sturdy or rigid. This type of fiberglass is called glass cloth. With glass cloth, fiberglass threads are woven into a type of sock that goes over the mattress’s internal materials but underneath its cover.

This means only the cover is between you and the glass cloth. That’s a problem because glass cloth – like fiberglass insulation – tends to shed tiny glass particles.

Why Would a Mattress Have Fiberglass?

There’s only one reason for mattresses to contain fiberglass. Fiberglass provides a cheap fire barrier. It might surprise you to learn that most of the components inside your mattress are highly flammable, and this is especially true for synthetic foam like memory foam and synthetic fibers like polyester.

To prevent mattresses from bursting into flame, manufacturers must meet certain fire safety requirements. One way they do this is by inserting a fire-resistant sock between the mattress cover and its internal materials.

While there are several different materials that can serve this purpose, fiberglass is the cheapest, and it is therefore most commonly found in mattresses marketed as affordable.

Drawbacks of Fiberglass

Fiberglass has a lot of drawbacks and can actually be quite dangerous inside mattresses. While fiberglass in your environment is not necessarily a hazard to your health because you are not typically exposed to things like fiberglass insulation or the fiberglass components of your car, the same cannot be said for mattresses.

You sleep on your mattress every night, and this gives you ample opportunity to be exposed to the fiberglass inside. Not only this, but your constant movement on the mattress can even encourage microscopic glass particles to work their way through the cover. This issue may be exacerbated if your mattress was shipped rolled up and packed into a box.

The issue with fiberglass exposure is that the microscopic glass particles leave tiny cuts all over every part of your body they come into contact with. If they touch your skin, you could develop rashes and skin irritation.

If they touch your eyes, they may leave you with eye irritation and even blurred vision. If you breathe them in, you could wind up with lung irritation and even lung infections. And that’s not to speak of how difficult it is to clean up fiberglass from a mattress. All this means the best thing for you to do is look for mattresses that do not contain fiberglass.

Benefits of Fiberglass

The reality is there are no benefits to having fiberglass inside a mattress. It does not contribute to the comfort of the mattress, and it offers no health benefits. In fact, it does the opposite.

Fiberglass only provides cheap fire protection, and since fire protection can be accomplished through other means, the only benefit of having fiberglass at all is saving a few bucks. When you consider the trade-offs, this hardly seems worth it.

Fiberglass Alternatives for Mattresses

There are several fiberglass alternatives that mattress manufacturers use to ensure their mattresses meet fire safety regulations. One of the best fire barriers on the mattress market is wool. Wool does not easily ignite even when exposed to flame.

If it does ignite, wool can often extinguish the flame internally without allowing it to spread through the entire piece of wool cloth. This means wool makes an excellent fire-retardant material in eco-friendly mattresses and even in clothing.

Wool doesn’t just provide a fire barrier. It also helps increase the comfort of your mattress. Wool is highly breathable and pressure relieving, which means it can help make your comfortable mattress even more plush and cool.

Despite what you may think due to its frequent presence in winter clothing, wool is also temperature neutral. This is because it evolved to keep sheep warm in the winter and cool in the summer. So whether you’re a hot or cold sleeper, wool in your mattress can be a great thing.

Other common flame retardants used inside mattresses without fiberglass include thistle, viscose fabrics, and fabrics made of silica thread. Silica fabric is just as fireproof as fiberglass, but it is much less hazardous to your health. This makes it a good synthetic alternative to fiberglass.

How to Tell if a Mattress Has Fiberglass

Mattress manufacturers are required by law to list all the ingredients in their mattresses for the consumer. This means your new mattress should come with a tag or insert of some kind that lets you know exactly what’s in it. If it has fiberglass inside, it will tell you and will list the percentage of the mattress made of this material.

If you’re shopping for a mattress, the websites for these mattresses will also often list their ingredients. For existing mattresses that don’t have an ingredient list, check out the care and maintenance tag on the mattress cover.

If this tag specifically forbids removing the mattress cover, it may be because there’s fiberglass underneath. This is especially likely if it was a low-cost mattress, as fiberglass is cheaper than many of its alternatives.

Lastly, look if a mattress you’re considering has come into question for containing fiberglass. Some examples include:

• Lucid mattresses
• Ashley Furniture mattresses
• Zinus mattresses
• Nectar mattresses
• Big Lots mattresses
• Amazon mattresses
• Vibe mattresses
• Olee Sleep mattresses
• Lull mattresses
• Leesa mattresses
• Wayfair mattresses

Is Helix a Good Mattress Brand?

On the whole, Helix is a good mattress brand. They take measures to limit the potential for fiberglass exposure inside their standard mattresses, and they offer plenty of options for those who want fiberglass alternatives.

Since there is always at least a marginal risk of fiberglass exposure, even with fabrics that use polyester yarn to enclose their fiberglass cores, we recommend going with the Luxe or Birch models from Helix.

These luxury mattresses use an FR-inherent fabric made of FR-rayon derived from bamboo viscose. This rayon is a much safer alternative to all forms of fiberglass. And it offers a more natural and healthy fire barrier than this industrial material.

FAQs

Do mattresses without fiberglass cost extra?

Fiberglass is the cheapest form of fire protection in the bedding industry at the moment. So getting a mattress without fiberglass could mean paying more. However, you will not have to pay an arm and a leg to get a mattress without fiberglass.

A mattress containing a healthier and safer fire barrier than fiberglass could cost as little as $50 to $100 more than a mattress that contains fiberglass. But when you consider all the dangers of having fiberglass in your mattress and all the benefits of not having it, this cost becomes a lot more bearable.

What should I do if my mattress has fiberglass?

If you find out that your existing mattress contains fiberglass, the best thing you can do is replace it. But this is not always tenable, especially if you’re on a tight budget. In this case, you do have another alternative until you can replace your mattress.

Impermeable mattress protectors are made to prevent dirt and liquid from seeping through to your mattress. But they can work the other way as well, ensuring that the fiberglass inside your mattress does not make its way through the cover to you.

If you can’t afford to replace your mattress, make sure you’re using an impermeable mattress protector to create a barrier between you and the fiberglass inside your mattress.

Can fiberglass in my mattress be hazardous to my health?

Fiberglass inside a mattress can definitely be hazardous to your health. The problem with having fiberglass cloth inside a mattress is that the tiny glass shards are very good at working their way through the cover of the mattress.

When this happens, microscopic glass shards can get kicked into the air you breathe and coat the surfaces of the things you sit and lie on, including your bed. This can leave you with chronic lung irritation, eye irritation, and skin rashes as the thousands of tiny glass particles leave microscopic cuts on these areas.

Why would mattresses have fiberglass?

There is only one reason a mattress would contain fiberglass. Fiberglass provides a cheap fire barrier. Many of the ingredients in mattresses, especially synthetic foams, are highly flammable. Thus, there are regulations in place to ensure that mattresses cannot easily combust.

To meet these regulations, mattress manufacturers must install fire barriers. In order to keep costs low, many manufacturers opt for fiberglass fire barriers because they cost less than safer and healthier alternatives.

Many manufacturers argue that fiberglass is safe because it’s under the cover of the mattress. But the reality is they just want to sell cheap mattresses that meet the bare minimum fire safety requirements.

Are there fiberglass alternatives?

There are lots of fiberglass alternatives that offer much more safety for not that much more cost. Many mattress manufacturers opt for silica fiber fire barriers because these synthetic fibers are not flammable and are much safer than fiberglass. Vegan mattresses may contain thistle or viscose fire barriers derived from the cellulose of bamboo or eucalyptus.

One of the most popular fiberglass alternatives is wool. Natural wool cannot easily combust. If it ignites at all, it often extinguishes flame internally, preventing it from spreading. Wool is also naturally breathable and pressure relieving, meaning a wool fire barrier can add another layer of comfort to your bed. Plus, it’s a key ingredient inside many natural and organic latex mattresses.

Bottom Line

Protecting your mattress from flame might be vital, but the fiberglass inside it is not. In fact, assuming your mattress never comes into contact with anything that could set it on fire, fiberglass might be even more unhealthy than nothing at all.

This is why it’s important to look for mattress models that contain fiberglass alternatives, like Helix Luxe, Helix Plus, and Birch mattresses. While eco-friendly beds are more likely to use wool or thistle in their design, you don’t need an organic mattress for a fiberglass-free model.