100% Honest Emma Mattress Review – I Wish I Knew this Sooner

If you’re looking for a 100% honest Emma Original mattress review, you’ve come to the right place.

I recently bought the Emma and I was so surprised to find that some things out there in the publicity/marketing of the mattress are in fact the complete opposite of my own experience.

So I’m writing this Emma Mattress review to help you decide whether this is the right mattress for you or not.

If you’re trying to decide what new mattress to buy, then this review is for you because it’s essential to get the right mattress that gives you a good night’s sleep, whether or not it’s the Emma Original mattress.

I’m a mindset coach who lives a vegan lifestyle and follows a vegan wfpb diet, and choosing a new mattress is a big deal for me.

And while I often meditate on a question to decide what to do, choosing a mattress isn’t really that type of question!

So, if you’re looking for the brutal truth from a personal perspective, then this review is for you.

As well as all the other vegan FAQ which people usually ask me, there’s also the question of whether the Emma mattress is actually being hyped.

Can a mattress really be as good as they claim the Emma mattress to be?

Will you sleep well on it? And is the Emma mattress really worth buying?

About The Emma Mattress

Emma is a German-designed bed-in-a-box memory foam mattress which is the most awarded mattress in Europe (though tbh I really don’t understand why), having won 29 European awards and winning Best Mattress after coming top of consumer tests in seven countries (at the time of writing), including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, France, the UK and Holland.

The Emma mattress also won the best tech start-up company in the European Tech 5 Awards.

The problem is, that’s all very well, but does it mean you’ll love the Emma mattress?

Should You Buy an Emma Mattress?

There’s no doubt that many bed shops and reviews recommend the Emma Original mattress, so there must be people who sleep well on it. If you Google it, you find many articles raving about it.

In fact, it has the best marketing you could imagine and customer service to match.

But is it just hype? And even if it isn’t, does it mean that it’s right for you?

This review includes the positive and the negative aspects, including the things I wish I’d known before I bought the Emma.

A Quick Overview of Questions about the Emma

• Is the Emma Mattress Vegan? Yes, the Emma mattress is completely vegan.

• Is the Emma Mattress Natural or Eco-friendly? No, the Emma is neither natural nor eco-friendly as it is not biodegradable, which means it probably won’t be in line with your ethics if you are vegan for the environment.

• Is the Emma Original Mattress Hot? Contrary to the information on the website, I found the Emma mattress to be an extremely hot mattress to sleep on.

• How long does the Emma mattress last? It’s guaranteed for 10 years.

• Where is the Emma mattress manufactured? In Germany

• Can you sleep on the Emma mattress right away? Although the company says you can sleep on the Emma after just a few hours, in my experience, it would be wise to leave the mattress outside, or in a well-ventilated garage, for several days (or more) to get rid of the chemical smell before sleeping on it.

• How firm is the Emma mattress? The Emma mattress is marketed as being medium firm but in my experience, it is a soft mattress.

• Do you sink into the Emma mattress? Yes, you do.

Emma Mattress Review: Pros of the Emma Mattress

• Comfort: The Emma mattress has (so far) been voted the best mattress by various consumer organisations in seven European countries (source: Emma website), so there are heaps of people who find this mattress comfortable.

• Price: the Emma is a high-quality mattress for a mid-range price (tip: especially if you get it during a special offer, like the Black Friday discount for example ;)).

• No risk: you can try the Emma mattress for up to 100 nights and return it if you’re not completely satisfied. The company will come and collect it and you’ll get a complete refund if the Emma isn’t what you had hoped.

• Returned mattresses are donated to charity: Emma’s policy is that the mattresses which are returned will be donated to charity. That’s great news in our world!

• Possibility of correcting the firmness: if you’re unhappy with the firmness (or lack of it), Emma will send you a (free) mattress topper. This applies also if, like me, you buy through Amazon.

• Customer service: I contacted Emma because at first I found the mattress too soft, and they immediately offered to send out a complimentary comfort layer which would make the Emma mattress firmer. No quibbles, no stress. The customer service was faultless.

• Convenience: you can order the Emma mattress online, and it’s delivered to your door in a box. No Extra charges, no stress.

• Ease of handling: The Emma mattress is very lightweight and easy to handle compared to traditional mattresses. You just take it out of the box and allow it to inflate over the space of several hours (or less).

• Last (and perhaps least): The Emma mattress has an attractive design and handles on the side for ease of handling.

Emma Mattress Review: Cons of the Emma Mattress

• Chemicals: The number one negative point for me is that the Emma mattress (like other foam mattresses) is sprayed with chemicals in order to increase fire resistance and make the mattress non-flammable. When you unpack the Emma, the smell can be extremely pungent. (It was in my case but the company says it varies and is not normally very strong – I can only comment on the one I bought – it stank unbearably strong). I am a fan of organic living – the last thing I wanted was stinking chemicals in my bed for me to breathe in all night.

• Un-gassing: The chemicals don’t just vanish. They take time to go and that process is called ‘un-gassing’. Personally, I found the ‘un-gassing’ as it’s called, to be literally unbearable for the first few nights. It remained extremely unpleasant for over a week. In fact, one month after buying the mattress I could still smell the chemical smell, though it wasn’t so overbearing anymore. After 6 weeks the chemical smell was gone. So my advice is to open the mattress and store it in the garage for a month before using it on your bed.

• Switching from springs to foam: If you’re used to a spring mattress, the change to foam can be quite difficult to get used to. Personally, it took me 6 weeks to even begin getting used to the feeling of lying on this mattress. I felt sunken into it and found it very difficult to fall asleep at night, resulting in that I couldn’t wake up in the mornings (see more on this below). My spine dipped into the mattress making it a very uncomfortable posture for me.

• Comfort: this mattress has taken me the full 100 nights to be able to accept that we’re not going to return it. But the only reason we are keeping it is because my husband likes sleeping on it. I found it far too soft and ‘sinky’, even with the harder topper which Emma sent to us. Now that I’ve got used to going to sleep on it, things are a bit better, but I still wake up in the morning feeling tired, find it too hot and struggle to sleep. (Edit: I have since bought a different mattress as I just couldn’t sleep on the Emma.)

• Not Biodegradable.: Memory foam is not biodegradable.

Emma Mattress Review: My Story

When I was looking for a mattress I wanted one which I’d really feel really comfortable on. Something to dream the night away on.

In the past, we had been given a ViSpring (unfortunately not vegan, and veeery pricey), which was so unbelievably comfortable that I really wanted to reproduce the feeling I got from that ViSpring mattress – but this time I wanted it to be vegan and less costly.

So we set about researching on Google and yes, you guessed it, the Emma mattress popped up everywhere. Because of the superb reviews and the great advertising, we decided to buy it. It was a fraction of the price of the top-range mattresses.

And so, succumbing to the incredibly effective marketing, we ordered it from Amazon.

The Buying Process

We ordered the Emma Original mattress from Amazon and it arrived within a few days, rolled up into a vacuum-packed bag and delivered in a handy box. Easy and hassle-free.

Unpacking

The unpacking is simple if you realise that there’s a special little knife taped inside the box. Our instructions were in French (hey?) so we didn’t read them and only found the knife after we’d unpacked the mattress lol! No big deal.

Once you’ve got the plastic off you can lay it somewhere to expand, which it did pretty quickly. At this point, I was unaware of the chemical smell . . . If you buy an Emma mattress I recommend leaving it somewhere to air for at least a week before sleeping on it.

We had already put our old mattress out in the shed and excitedly placed the Emma directly onto our bed.

The Un-gassing

Apparently, this varies from mattress to mattress but in our case (and perhaps we were unlucky) it was overpowering. I knew nothing about having to leave the mattress to air for a few days, as what I’d read on the internet and on the Emma site, was to allow it to expand for a couple of hours.

We’d left our mattress for 5 hours so we assumed that would be fine and I happily put on the new mattress protector and sheets.

Time to go to bed and sleep our first night on our new mattress. Yaay! And then . . . ‘Yaay’ turned into Urrghhh, as the smell was unbearable. I would have preferred to switch back to my old mattress but it was already discarded.

So I took a small sheet and wrapped it around my neck and up around my face in an attempt to block out the smell/fumes. It reduced them to a certain extent but whenever I moved, the smell rose up into my nostrils.

I contacted the Emma Uk company to ask about what chemicals are used so that I could feel less concerned about what I was breathing in all night, but to my disappointment I only received a standard reply, taken from their website, assuring me that they are certified and therefore not dangerous. (And yes, I did communicate my disappointment to Emma about that too.)

I believe in transparency in today’s world (even though it almost doesn’t exist) and I find it unacceptable that we purchase and buy a product on which we will spend many hours breathing in strong-smelling chemical fumes without a clear understanding of what they are and how they may affect us.

For me, the un-gassing was not acceptable.

Warmth

The Emma mattress is advertised as not being as hot as other memory foam mattresses, which may well be true, but it’s definitely warmer than a spring mattress.

For me, this was a stopper. The Emma Original mattress is so hot it just isn’t suitable for a warm climate such as we have in Spain.

Update on Heat

Having owned the Emma mattress during the summer I can now report that it is extremely hot to sleep on. It’s important to take into account the climate where you live. We are currently having summer temperatures of 35-40ºc, so keeping cool at night is imperative to me. But that is impossible while sleeping on the Emma mattress.

So I have moved into the spare room for the summer. This is one hot mattress.

Again, we have two different opinions. My husband doesn’t mind sleeping on the Emma Mattress but he does sweat all night so he too has moved room, and I actually can’t sleep on it during this heat. It is as though there is a fire beneath me!

The Problem with the Comfort of the Emma Original Mattress

This is my take on the comfort of the Emma mattress based on how I sleep. I weigh about 67 kilos and that’s one factor to take into consideration when deciding on what mattress to buy.

The first few nights I slept terribly (or could better say, didn’t sleep at all) on the Emma mattress. Apart from the smell I found it to be much less comfortable than I’d expected. I later found out that it takes a little time for the mattress to ‘settle’ and as a result, it can feel firmer than it really is for the first few nights.

Once the smell decreased slightly (night 6) I was at least able to sleep the night through but I was still feeling as though the mattress would never be comfortable. It pushed up all around me and I felt I was lying ‘in’ it instead of on it.

10 days in and I found it difficult to get off to sleep when I went to bed. Eventually, I would fall asleep but I didn’t feel like I was sleeping on a wow feeling. It was just too soft for me.

The Solution

I contacted Emma and they immediately offered to send me a comfort topper to make the mattress firmer.

The firmer topper meant that I began to fall asleep much easier and it definitely gave me a much better sleeping experience.

Conclusion

Now, after 3 months I am finally sleeping on the Emma mattress

The Emma mattress is a great concept in terms of customer service and we had no issues with delivery and unpacking. The comfort of the mattress is just not for me and has taken me a long time to get used to. And I am strongly against the chemicals.

The end of my three-month trial is upon me and after much deliberation, I have decided not to return the Emma.

My husband likes it so much and has done since the first moment. If it wasn’t for his enthusiasm about the Emma, it wouldn’t have made it to the 100 days mark. I would definitely have returned it earlier.

6 Month Update

After 6 months with the Emma mattress, I have to conclude that it’s too soft for me. I will keep it for now, but I will buy a firmer mattress next time.

8 Month Update

I have now moved into the spare room to sleep on a cheap spring mattress (which is less hot) and I have no desire to return to the Emma. Sorry, Emma, you’re just not for me.

1 Year Update

I bought a new bed and transferred the bed with the Emma mattress to our spare room where our guests will sleep when they come to visit.

I now have a firm mattress on which I sleep perfectly. If you aren’t comfy from the first moment, don’t try to convince yourself that it will get better. If it’s too soft for you, it’s too soft for you.

When you give up drinking alcohol or start to change your relationship with alcohol as I have, your quality of sleep becomes so much deeper and more restful than when you drink alcohol on a regular basis, but on the other hand, you become more aware of the mattress below you.

I hope this Emma mattress review helps you to make your decision and get a good night’s sleep!

Thanks for reading!