Horsehair is the finest material in the world to use in a mattress, but is nowadays used only in the most luxurious of beds, because it offers the rare gift of luxury sleep. The old world of horsehair bedding and upholstery still exists amid today’s synthetic world, but it can only now be experienced in the higher reaches of luxury.
There are fewer horses in the world now than formerly, and horsehair is rare, but the craftsmanship that creates luxury sleep quietly endures, and it reaches for this material as a matter of course. The Luxury Bed Collection tailors handmade, custom-crafted beds, including from Europe’s oldest bedmaker, and these bespoke creations feature horsetail hair, a scarce but renewable resource, since the hair of the horse’s tail grows back, as from any haircut.
Horsehair must be strenuously washed and prepared for use, to bring out its miraculous qualities as a non-allergenic, generationally enduring component in a luxury mattress. But after this lengthy, hand-worked preparation process, the hair is incredibly springy. Horsehair never loses its springiness or curliness. In the preparation, the hair is braided into ropes, and steam-heated at high temperatures, and pressurized, all in several stages, and all of which results in a curl that never goes away.
Horsehair retains its same springiness and loft, decade after decade, buoyant and accommodating to the body, super clean, and free of all allergens. Most uniquely, it performs a miracle of evaporation that brings the breathability of a bed to an elevated degree that most people will never experience.
A custom-made, luxury bed containing horsetail hair regulates the temperature of the mattress throughout all the sleep cycles, so the body never overheats or feels too cold. It is the ability of horsehair to transpire air throughout the mattress that works superbly to regulate temperature during the night. Discerning sleepers insist on horsehair to keep them through the night in a persistent comfort zone that they can simply sleep through, without restlessness.
The Sleep of Horsehair
The curl and the loft of prepared horsehair are what lift you and keep you buoyant during sleep. The horsehair is held in layers with other materials, such as cotton, wool, and silk, all within a fabric framework that keeps it in place, yet allows it to shift to your body. The conductivity of the horsehair takes perspiration and extra heat away, while also preventing static electricity from disturbing your composure.
A luxury bed delivers an experience of pleasure and enjoyment that you can feel, each time you lie on it. Your body rests in ways that it did not know were missing. All the parts of the body find their perfect accommodation. Back strains disappear over time, muscles unwind, tension flows away, and simple rest becomes the case. Luxury sleep beguiles the body—there is no other word for it, we think. The body loves to relax, and it knows when it is getting a good thing.
To the relaxed body, sleep comes easily, and we enter into natural sleep cycles, unimpeded by any of the various discomforts that will keep an edge on a lesser sleep experience. When we wake, we’re ready to be awake, because we really have slept.
We can spend one third of our lives like this.
The Qualities of Horsehair
Horsehair is a capillary, a hollow tube that could have been custom-designed to move air or water through; you can immerse a handful of horsehair in water, lift it out and shake it, and it is already practically dry. This breathability becomes a constituent quality of a luxury mattress.
Horsehair is also found in chair and sofa upholstery, as superb to sit on as it is to lie on. The makers of the Rolls-Royce automobile seats long knew this, as do Gulfstream when furnishing their luxury jets. And you can find horsehair provided for your comfort in the great hotels of the world, as well as selectively in ocean liners.
A hand-crafted mattress made with horsehair, and tailored specifically to fit your requirements, will last you for a very long time. We know of second-generation children who ask to inherit the family horsehair mattress—it’s that durable, and clean. It has a life that doesn’t simply wear out or fade away. Horsehair is such a durable material that it can last for a hundred years. Old upholstery has sometimes been raided for its horsehair, which can be repurposed.
Over time, horsehair can settle—although some clients never find this to be the case. Either way, it is good to resettle a mattress, and our white glove service is always on call to come and flip the mattress and rotate it every year or so.
The Luxury Bed Collection is the oldest established firm of luxury sleep purveyors in the country, and our clients know they can depend on us to take care of them during the life of their investment. After all, there are not many mattresses that qualify as an heirloom.
Custom Craft
Each custom bed is made by hand by the craftspeople of Hästens or Vispring, who devote hundreds of hours to each unique creation. Each luxury bed is made according to the specific wishes of each client. As sleep experts, we at The Luxury Bed Collection establish, from our client consultations, the complete specifications that the craftspeople of Europe will fashion into the bespoke, tailored result of a unique, handmade, luxury bed.
Of course, beds are for more than just individuals. People have partners, often with different sleeping patterns. And there are children, and pets, all of whom may share the bed space. All of whom are accommodated, according to lifestyle, sleeping style, morning lounging style—all as the client wishes.
Custom beds are made to all sizes, most of them larger than can otherwise be obtained. We design for extra length, extra width, more depth, specific degrees of softness or firmness, custom springs, headboards, and accessories. We can also create in a zip and link style, for two mattresses with different qualities. But all mattresses, typically, will include horsehair.
The top bedmakers of this world use horsehair in their artisanal creations. The art and craft of making a luxury bed and frame, along with a custom headboard and our curated selections of the world’s finest linens, pillows, toppers, and comforters, all call for the best constituents to go into the mattress itself, where the body and mind go for sleep.
And while we are always reminded that we spend one-third of our lives in bed, only on horsehair can we luxuriate in that knowledge.
