Nolah Mattress Review

Outline For Our Review

• YouTube Video Review: Nolah Mattress
• Overview Of Delivery, Returns & More
• Nolah Original 10 vs Signature 12
• Nolah Mattress Review (Main Model)
• Nolah Signature 12 Review (Flippable Model)

We have left no stone unturned in this review, so in an effort to make it easier to find what you’re looking for, above is a quick table of contents. Click the appropriate link to go to whichever section you prefer.

YouTube Video Review: Nolah Mattress

We are really into video reviews. We think they show more and allow us to clearly convey what a bed is like. Here is our full video review for the Nolah Original 10 mattress.

Of course, with a video, we’re limited in terms of how long we can make it and still retain an audience. As such, there is an extensive post below that touches on everything we discussed in the video and much more.

Overview Of Delivery, Setup & Returns

Nolah has some very interesting (in a good way) policies for when you purchase their mattress. First, like the rest of the online mattress shopping industry, they ship their mattress to your home for free. As you probably know, it shows up in a box about the size of a small dresser or a mini fridge. It’s about four feet tall and one and a half feet wide.

All you have to do is drag the box inside, remove the packaging, and allow the mattress a few seconds to inflate. Below is a look at how the whole unboxing process goes down. With a buddy, the setup experience is actually really fun and only takes about ten minutes, including clean up.

Once the bed is out of the box be sure to give it a few hours to fully inflate and air out a bit. Since the bed has been tightly wound up inside plastic wrapping for several days, it needs a little extra time to take its intended form off-gas. This is very common and something that we’ve experienced with darn near every mattress that we’ve reviewed.

After the mattress arrives at your house, Nolah gives you a 120-night risk-free trial period to test their bed in the comfort of your own home. Essentially, Nolah is so confident that you’ll like their bed that they allow you to sleep on it without committing to keeping it. But just so you know, most mattresses that you can buy online come with a very similar policy, albeit for a shorter duration—typically 100 nights not 120 nights. Four full months should be more than longer enough to make your mind up about the bed.

If you decide during your trial period that this bed just isn’t for you, no worries. Nolah offers completely free returns. They’ll even send someone to pick it up straight from where it lays in your home, so you don’t even need to figure out how to fit it back in the small box it came in. They will then usually donate your used bed to a charity in need. Nolah makes the return process as easy as possible.

Something that we think is really cool and unique, is that Nolah will adopt one wildlife animal for every bed sold. You can even choose which furry friend to adopt, with options ranging from arctic foxes to jaguars to sharks. By the way, by adopt, they probably mean sponsor. We doubt they have a bunch of bald eagles flying around their mattress warehouse. Anyways, for more information about this, check out Nolah’s website.

If you end up keeping your mattress (which the majority of people must do), Nolah offers an extended warranty of 15 years. Most other companies offer around 10 years for their warranty duration. You should make sure to read that warranty, though, because it will dictate suitable foundations for the bed and what all the company will cover in the way of defects.

Nolah Original 10 vs Signature 12

While the Original 10 is the bed that we focused on primarily in this review, the Signature 12 has a lot going for it. Here’s a quick breakdown of how they compare:

Signature 12 — This is the company’s high-end foam mattress. It’s flippable and has a soft side and a firm side. It also has an organic cotton cover and comes with a lifetime warranty. Basically all the positive things we have to say about the Original 10 apply also to the Signature 12, but it manages to be more ideal for back and stomach sleepers since it’s double-sided. The only real downside with this bed, as compared to the original, is price. After applying a coupon code, it’s about $300-$400 more expensive than the Original 10. Not a huge difference, considering it’s objectively the nicer bed, but it might not be worth it if you’re a medium/petite side sleeper. In this scenario, you could save money and be a happy camper with the Original 10.

Original 10 — We’ve discussed this bed extensively in this review, but here’s a quick summary of why it might be better than the Signature 12 for you. Firstly, it’s more affordable. Check. Secondly, it has just one side and it’s soft. Great for side sleepers. Check. Thirdly, it still has a longer-than-average warranty and is made in the USA. It’s a very nice bed.

Nolah Mattress Review – Original 10

The Original 10 is the most affordable mattress that Nolah makes. In fact, as the name states, it is the original Nolah mattress—the first bed they came out with.

Getting back to the Nolah 10, it’s pretty affordable considering how comfortable it is and the company policies that Nolah holds. There are certainly other cheaper mattresses on the market, but Nolah it’s priced such that pretty much anyone can afford it. Here’s a pricing breakdown before any discounts:

Like the rest of the mattress industry, Nolah does set their prices a little high in terms of MSRP so that they have room to offer discounts. You can check Nolah’s website for current offers and discounts.

As you might have expected, they typically run their biggest mattress deals during major holidays such as 4th of July and Black Friday. We also should have a coupon on this page for you to save money on the Nolah 10, regardless of the time of year you’re shopping. After-discount, the queen size bed comes down to around $900, which is affordable but not bottom-of-the-barrel affordable.

Foam Layers And Design Of The Nolah Mattress

We usually categorize mattresses into two different construction types: foam mattresses and hybrid/spring mattresses.

The Nolah Original 10 is an all-foam bed, made with a proprietary foam that makes up the top layer. By the way, this is a trend in the mattress space—a lot of beds will have some sort of unique top layer of foam. We’ve seen it on Puffy, Casper, and many others.

As you might have guessed by now, the Nolah Original 10 is a 10″ thick mattress, as are most bed-in-a-box mattresses. The base layer is 7” of high-density foam (basically just polyurethane foam). You won’t feel this layer, but it’s there for support and to act as the foundation for the entire bed.

Next is a 1” transition layer that’s a slightly softer poly foam. They included this so that you don’t feel the harsh, dense base layer of the bed; it is very common to include a transition layer. The top layer—and the secret sauce to this mattress—is 2″ of “Cooling Nolah AirFoam,” which is unique to Nolah mattresses.

The Nolah AirFoam is more of an open cell foam that helps to circulate airflow. Part of the goal here is to better regulate temperature within the mattress so that you don’t wake up sweating because the mattress has been retaining all of your body heat. We will talk more about feel in the sections below, but the short story is that Nolah AirFoam feels like a memory foam/poly foam hybrid. It’s soft and pressure reliving, yet decently responsive and doesn’t give you a “stuck” feeling.

The Nolah Original 10 is wrapped in an extremely soft cover. The top is white and textured, and the bottom surrounding the sides is a chocolate brown, with Nolah’s cheeky smiley logo printed on it.

It’s made with a combination of viscose fibers and polyester fibers. This cover is removable, but we don’t recommend that you actually ever take it off. It’s not machine washable, so instead just grab some mild detergent and warm water and spot clean where you need to.

If you are particularly worried about keeping your mattress clean, Amazon has plenty of affordable mattress protectors that you can pickup. Just keep in mind a cover may restrict airflow in the mattress, or change how the bed feels. We aren’t the world’s biggest fans of mattress protectors. We understand why you might want one, but unless you’re buying a mattress for kids or seniors, we thick the cons might outweigh the pros.

Firmness Scale And Overall Feel Of Nolah

The Nolah Original 10 falls in between a true medium and medium-soft on our firmness scale. That’s based on the opinion of several average-size people—it will feel softer to heavier individuals and firmer to petite folks. Overall, we’d characterize the feel of the bed as neutral with a hint of soft memory foam. We should also add that it’s ridiculously comfortable, especially if you’re sleeping on your side.

The Original 10 is fairly quick to respond after applying pressure to it, which means you won’t get that dreadful stuck-in-the-mud feeling. Combination sleepers tend to prefer more responsive mattresses such as Nolah.

You can see that the bed snaps back nearly immediately when you take away the pressure. This makes it a lot easier to rotate positions at night and can help you get more restful sleep since it means that you’re exerting less energy to switch from sleeping on your back to your stomach, for example.

Discussion Of Sleeping Styles

Given that Nolah is a softer mattress, it’s not ideal for strict stomach and/or back sleepers that weigh over 150 lb. Generally, if you sleep primarily on your stomach and/or back you’ll want a firmer mattress. A few good examples of firmer beds are DreamCloud and Cocoon Chill by Sealy. That said, if you’re petite, you can likely sleep on your back/stomach just fine on Nolah.

Keep in mind that firmness is relative based on body weight and size. The more you weigh, the more pressure you’ll be putting on the bed, and thus it will feel softer to you. The inverse is true for lighter individuals—they will typically experience mattresses to be firmer overall.

Because the Nolah Original 10 is on the softer range of the firmness spectrum, it will provide great pressure relief for your hips and shoulders.

When you lay on Nolah you do sink in and the bed sort of hugs you, but it’s very comfortable. Simple put, the Nolah Original 10 is one of the best mattresses for side sleepers that you can purchase online. There are a lot of other mattresses that we like here as well, but Nolah is pretty much the quintessential bed for side sleepers. If you’re looking for soft foam, maximum pressure relief, extra comfort, Nolah is it.

Can Nolah Handle People That Weigh Over 230 lb?

Mmmm, unfortunately, no. The Nolah Original 10 is an all-foam mattress that’s only 10” thick. Heavier people are going to need a thicker, extra supportive mattress—probably one that incorporates innersprings or pocketed coils. If you’re over 230 lb there are a host of other mattresses that we’d rather you try out instead of Nolah.

This is not to say that Nolah is bad, it’s just that it’s not designed to handle bigger folks. This bed is tailor made for petite and medium size individuals. Same story, by the way, for Leesa, Tuft & Needle, and many other 10″ foam mattresses. Here’s our list of the best mattresses for heavy and obese sleepers.

Couples Sleeping On The Nolah Mattress

Nolah Original 10 doesn’t sleep hot, but it doesn’t sleep especially cold either. We’d say it’s temperature neutral. Honestly, the temperature in your room or whether you’re wearing flannel pajamas will most likely be the dominating factor in determining whether you sleep hot or not.

There are two other important factors—on top of what we’ve already mentioned in this review—that couples should consider when selecting a new mattress: (1) how well it isolates motion and (2) how strong are the edges of the bed.

Nolah Original 10 does a very good job of isolating motion, meaning movement on one side of the bed doesn’t really transfer to the other side. Motion isolation is important for couples with restless sleepers, because no one likes getting woken up every time their partner gets up to use the restroom or grab a snack in the middle of the night.

In regards to edge support, the Original 10 is just average, like a lot of other 10″ all-foam beds. You do get a bit of that roll-off feeling, which can be unnerving. It’s not bad, but we’ve tested plenty of mattresses with better edge support, including Beautyrest Black. Edge support is truly only critically important for couples that share a smaller size mattress like a twin XL or a full.

If you like Nolah and want to get this bed, but your partner is a mattress hog, there’s an easy solution: get a queen, king, or California king. The bottom line is that edge support is important, but it’s not nearly as important as feel, firmness, temperature regulation, motion isolation, and price.

Nolah Mattress Review: Verdict

The Nolah Original 10 is a great option for side and combo sleepers who are looking for a plush foam mattress. We aren’t thrilled about everything with this Nolah, but it’s the best bed for someone, we are certain of that. At the end of the day, it’s comfortable and comes with a trial period so that you can test it for yourself. Plus, we do actually really appreciate that with every purchase they give back to a wildlife animal of your choice.

Nolah Signature 12 Mattress Review

This section is all about the Nolah Signature 12 mattress, a double-sided bed with an organic cotton cover.

The Nolah Signature 12” mattress is a little more expensive than the average bed-in-a-box, but that’s because it’s not average—it’s actually a pretty unique mattress. Here’s a breakdown of pricing.

Like every other online mattress company, Nolah is constantly running promotions, so in reality you should expect to pay a few hundred dollars less than the MSRP. You can check Nolah’s website for current discounts and deals or we should have a coupon code on this page for you.

Inside The Mattress

The Nolah Signature 12 is a four-layer, double-sided mattress. As you can see from the graphic below, both sides of the mattress utilize a layer of the proprietary “Cooling Nolah AirFoam.” The base layer is made with 1” of the AirFoam. This is just enough foam to provide support and pressure relief for all sleeping positions.

The next layer is what Nolah calls their Reinforced High-Density Core Foundation. It’s made with 7” of an “ultra-grade” core foundation foam. This layer provides the bulk of the support for the mattress. The second from the top layer is a “Deep Supportive High-Resilience Foam.”

This is a 1.5” soft, yet supportive layer of foam that provides pressure relief for side sleepers, and support for back sleepers. The top layer (again, assuming that the bed is lying the way it’s shown in the picture) is 2.5” of Nolah’s Cooling AirFoam. It’s a soft, accommodating layer that provides pressure relief for side sleepers in particular.

For those wondering what, specifically, Nolah AirFoam is, Nolah describes it as “fast responsive temperature-neutral “Memory Foam” with the bounce of Latex.” However, it’s technically a high resilience polyurethane foam that is made without the heat-trapping chemicals that is normally found in memory foam. The best way to explain it is that it feels like a mix of traditional memory foam and latex.

Nolah is included on the CertiPUR-US list of companies that guarantees their products are free from formaldehyde and cancer-causing substances.

The Nolah Signature 12” mattress is wrapped in an unbleached, thick, organic cover that does not have any harmful chemicals in it. It’s a really nice cover that actually smells quite good, especially as compared to the cover on most other mattresses.

While the cover is technically removable, we don’t recommend throwing it in the wash. It may shrink and be impossible to get back on your new mattress! Instead, if you spill something on your bed (perhaps you are enjoying breakfast in bed, and the syrup spills), we recommend spot cleaning. The easiest and best way to do this is to dampen a soft cloth with water and some detergent, and dab at the stain until it is gone.

Softness/Firmness Scale

The Nolah Signature mattress has a different firmness level on either side of the bed. In other words, one side is softer (we’d call it “medium” firmness), and the other is firm (we’d call it “medium-firm”). This essentially provides you with two mattresses, so you can choose which one is most comfortable for your specific sleep style.

Both sides of the Signature 12” mattress are equally responsive. In fact, we’d say this is a very responsive bed, which makes sense because the Signature 12” is made of a soft neutral-foam.

As you can see, the mattress pops right back into shape after pressure is removed. This is particularly helpful for combination sleepers that rotate positions during the night. In fact, a more responsiveness mattress can help combo sleepers to get more restful sleep since rotating positions requires less effort.

Different Sleeping Styles

Given that the Signature 12 mattress has two sides, each with a different firmness level, one side is naturally going to be better than the other for certain sleeper positions. For example, the firmer side will be more ideal for strict back and stomach sleepers. However, there is a lot of personal preference that goes into selecting a mattress. So if you are exceptionally petite, the soft side of the Nolah Signature 12” mattress may be supportive enough for back and stomach sleeping.

The Nolah Signature 12” mattress should be comfortable enough for side and combination sleepers. Of course, personal preference will play a role here too, but we think the soft side of the mattress will be the best option. This is because the thicker layer of Nolah AirFoam should provide pressure relief where you need it around your hips and shoulders.

Keep in mind that a lot of this depends on your weight. If you’re on the heavier end of the spectrum, you may find the firm side provides enough pressure-relief.

How Is The Signature 12 For Heavier People?

For heavier individuals, we think the firm side of this mattress will be the best choice. We generally don’t recommend all-foam mattresses to heavy or obese people, but if you absolutely want a bed made entirely of foam, Nolah Signature 12 is actually not a bad option. Because it is flippable and slightly thicker, it will probably last longer than your average bed-in-a-box mattress. That said, if you weigh more than 250 lbs (what we consider heavy), you may want to look into a spring or hybrid mattress, which tend to be most durable than their all-foam counterparts.

Will Couples Like The Signature 12 Mattress?

If you are in a relationship and are not planning to purchase a king size mattress, you will want to get a bed with good edge support and motion isolation. We have good news if you are looking into purchasing the Nolah Signature 12” mattress; this bed is good with both.

Let’s break down what each term means for you. Edge support is important if you sleep in a smaller sized bed (such as a full or twin XL) with a partner. As anyone who has ever shared a bed knows all too well, it can be easy to end up on the edge of the mattress. Especially if it’s warm out, and you are trying to maximize your personal space. Since no one wants to feel like they’re about to roll off the bed, it’s important to choose a mattress that is supportive on the edges.

A variety of people from our team tested the Nolah Signature 12” bed for edge support and we all found that it performed quite well. So that means you can comfortably sleep on the very edge of this bed and not feel like you’re going to end up on the floor.

Similarly, motion isolation is also very important if you are in a relationship or sleep with a partner. This is because occasionally people toss and turn (especially if you’re a combination sleeper) and in some mattresses, the motion can spread across the mattress and jolt the other person sleeping on the bed. So a mattress that isolates motion well will typically result in a more restful night’s sleep for both parties.

So how did Nolah Signature 12” do in this category? In short, very well. While typically the best motion isolating mattresses are made with memory foam, the Signature 12” holds its own well. Basically, the Nolah Signature 12” mattress is a good choice if you sleep in the same bed as a partner or large animal.

Nolah Signature 12 – Final Thoughts

All in all, this is a very accommodating mattress that we think will be a good choice for people who sleep on their back, stomach, side, or a combination of the three. Furthermore, this mattress is flippable so people with a wide variety of body types should be able to sleep comfortably. If you are in a relationship or sleep with a partner, the Nolah Signature 12” mattress will be a good choice, as well.