Sealy Mattress pads with Teflon are an interesting marketing ploy in the continued “bed wars”. Does the Teflon add any real benefit to the age-old mattress pad, or does a conventional pad work just as well? It’s an interesting concept, and it may have value, but it may have drawbacks too.
The Sealy Corp. has been making mattresses and bedding products since 1881, when the company was started by cotton gin builder Daniel Haynes in Sealy, Texas. Haynes began making cotton-filled mattresses and labeling them “Mattress from Sealy”. The town’s name became the company’s name.
Sealy mattress pads with Teflon coatings are a relatively new innovation. Teflon, best known as a non-stick surface applied to cookware, is actually a chemical with the jaw-breaking name polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE for short). Sealy mattress pads with Teflon coatings are standard mattress pads that have been sprayed with PTFE, giving them a light coating of Teflon. The benefits of Sealy mattress pads with Teflon are debatable, however.
Sealy (and other mattress makers who make Teflon coated products) claims that the Teflon coating makes the Sealy mattress pads with Teflon “slicker” and therefore more comfortable. This may be true for some people, but it is doubtful. A sheet normally goes on top of any mattress pad, and it is hard to see how sheets that slide easily across Sealy mattress pads with Teflon is of benefit to a sleeper. If anything, it would make the sheet more likely to pull loose and bunch up.
It is also claimed that Sealy mattress pads with Teflon are more stain-resistant. This too is true, but mainly of the outer fabric that gets the Teflon treatment. A coating of Teflon on the top surface fabric of Sealy mattress pads with Teflon does not prevent urine from soaking through the mattress pads. Stains and odors will develop inside of the mattress pad and show through the top layer, unless the mattress pad is properly cleaned.
The Teflon coating will cause liquids to bead up on the surface of a Sealy mattress pad, for a short time. It is debatable whether this transient protection is worthwhile when one considers that most wettings happen while a person is asleep.
Sealy mattress pads with Teflon are popular with the public, none the less. The trusted Sealy brand coupled with the Teflon trademark — synonymous with “won’t stick” — is a powerful marketing blend. Sealy mattress pads with Teflon can be found everywhere and in all styles, from king sized pillow top mattress pads to baby crib mattress pads with plastic backings.
One concern the author has about mattress pads with Teflon is the off-gassing associated with Teflon. Teflon is marketed as an inert surface, but what kind of off-gassing is there? What does that do to your health? The jury is still out on all of that.
And before buying Sealy mattress pads with Teflon coatings, remember that it’s just a Teflon coating on a mattress pad. A lower-priced no-name brand mattress pad with a Teflon coating will provide at least as much protection against staining and sleeping comfort as Sealy mattress pads with Teflon.
Instead of buying Sealy mattress pads with Teflon, or any other brand, it may be best to simply learn more about the proper care of mattress pads in general. When a mattress pad is stained, urine is often the culprit. Wash the mattress pad immediately in warm soapy water. If possible, let it dry outdoors in sunshine. Sunshine actually has a bleaching effect that can make urine stains vanish. And when all’s said and done, remember that mattress pads are hardly ever seen.