The nap of luxury...

The most I ever paid for a mattress was for a king-sized Tempur-Pedic, purchased at Brookstone's maybe 30 years ago. I don't recall what we paid, but at the time it seemed like a lot. (Something comparable today is in the $3K or so range, so it probably cost us about $1.5K.) It was worth it. I know that some people can't stand Tempur-Pedics, but it worked for us. The one downside was that the mattress hardened up in the cold, so when you first got into bed on a cold night, it felt like a marble slab. Once your body heated it up, it was perfecto. When we first got the mattress, I had sciatica and the Tempur-Pedic was good for what ailed me.

I now have a queen-size bed, a handmedown from my sister - it came with the wonderful cherry wood Crate & Barrel sleigh bed she was offloading - and I have no idea what kind of mattress is on it. I know I'll need to replace it at some point, but it's fine for now. And I'll be willing to pay a few thousand bucks for the right stuffed. 

But my price point will be well below the entry point ($14K) for a Hästens, which can run you up to $600K for the top of the line. (And, yes, you read that correctly: six-hundred thousand dollars. FOR A DAMNED MATTRESS. Apparently the rapper Drake owns one, so he can lie in comfort while licking the wounds that his arch-rival Kendrick Lamar's been inflicting on him.)

I likely would never have heard of Hästens had not an article on their dream mattresses popped up in the NY Time's Wirecutter, where "resident sleep expert" Caira Blackwell wrote about her opportunity to test drive sleep one of them for six months. 

Over the years Blackwell's been testing out mattresses, she's slept on everything from those beds-in-boxes that cost next to nothing, to high end mattresses that go for $10K. And her verdict on the Hästens 2000T: while some of the mattresses she's checked out have been just fine, when it comes to the Hästens 2000T: nothing compares to you. 

For $56K,it had better be good. But nothing prepared me for learning about Hästens.

I was expecting the handcrafted-ness, but this goes way beyond handcraft. 

Horsehair is the star of the show in every Hästens mattress. The horse mane and tail strands are heat-treated, braided, and steamed to create a permanent curl—an expensive process, according to Hästens and a Chinese-based supplier, Tallie. The curls are dense enough to create a loose, springy structure that feels airy yet supportive. The fibers are hollow, and this helps the mattress feel breathable by wicking away moisture and excess heat. (Source: NYT Wirecutter)

Personally, I don't associate horsehair with comfort. My only experience sleeping on a horsehair mattress was at the summer home of a college friend, where the mattress in my room was some sort of ugly blue leatherette stuffed with horsehair. It was as hard as a rock, and each time I turned over, it felt like I was going to fracture a hip. Not so Blackwell's experience with her horsehair mattress (which, by the way, has 2,340 individual springs in it - most box springs, which aren't so much in use anymore, had maybe one-fifth that amount). 

I know from years of mattress testing that comfort is subjective, and no single mattress will work for everyone. That being said, sleeping on the 2000T feels like nothing I’ve ever felt before. When I settle in, the mattress conforms just enough for my whole body to sink into it, while what feels like a thousand little hands support me from below. The closest comparison I can think of is floating in a sensory-deprivation chamber. When I lie on the Hästens, I feel weightless, like I’m bobbing in a pool of water calibrated to my exact body temperature. I can barely tell where the mattress ends and my body begins, regardless of what position I’m in.

Well, if that doesn't sound sweet... 

Despite the near-perfection that is the Hästens, after a few weeks using it, Blackwell felt that all that all those carefully handcrafted materials were starting to clump together. She reported the issue to the company and was told that this was to be expected:

...because the mattress requires regular, complimentary massaging. Yes, every mattress sold by Hästens comes with a “recalibration program,” in which Hästens employees visit your home to loosen up the materials and redistribute them, to prevent the mattress from settling into a you-shaped valley. Each Hästens owner is entitled to this service for a decade or more.

They remove the topper, flip the mattress, and then systematically tread across the surface in weighted steps, like they’re marching. Then they knead it with their fists, before reapplying the topper and systematically rolling the edges in to redistribute the materials in an even layer. After each 20-minute “massage,” I could feel the difference. The mattress again felt like it did on the first day it was delivered to my home.

Who knew that mattress fluffer was an actual profession? Of course, what they do is on beyond just casual fluffing, treading, kneading, and rotating. 

For Blackwell's second recalibration, she mentioned that the recalibrated mattress was feeling a bit too cushy. So they sent a squad in and they:

... re-tufted the entire thing by hand, functionally tightening each coil to adjust the bed to feel a little firmer than it was before. Again, I could really feel the difference, as if I’d swapped a soft mattress for a medium one—without the hassle. The team members explained that they can also do this procedure for half of the mattress, which is ideal for couples with different firmness preferences.

Nearly $60K for a mattress is way, way, way too rich for my blood. And I don't think I'd like having a recalibration team swing by every couple of months. Too much of a good thing, etc. 

And $600K for a mattress? That's just rich folks doing what rich folks do. Status-buying something insanely pricey just because they can afford to. Is there more value, more comfort, more more of more in a $600K mattress than in a $60K mattress? I suspect there's a marginal increase in value, comfort, and more more at best. 

$60K or $600K, this is just living in the nap of luxury. There's a Hästens store nearby, on Newbury Street. I haven't been in - and don't imagine I ever will. But if word gets out, come the revolution, someone may decide to roll the tumbrel up to their door. Liberté, égalité, sleep comfort!