(ASH)

Hello! Welcome to The Fat Lip, the podcast for fat people, about fat people. I am your fat host Ash, and today I have a short and sweet little podcast for you that is sponsored by The Fat Lip’s new advertising partner, the Big Fig Mattress. Big Fig very generously sent me a mattress to review, so I wanted to tell you about it.

So first I should tell you a little bit about my mattress history. I think probably most of you can relate to having struggled with beds in your lives. I remember even in my early teens sleeping in the giant crater my body had created in my mattress. It wasn’t such a big deal then because I was young and invincible and nothing ached or pained me, but as an adult it’s been a much bigger problem.

The first bed I ever bought as an adult was when I was 21. I had moved in with a roommate just outside of DC, and my room was supposed to be furnished. The day I moved in, though, I discovered that the bed was actually a futon with an air mattress on top. No kidding. A wooden futon frame, one of those terrible hard futon mattresses, and an air mattress. I lived with it for a few weeks, but it was misery, so I eventually I had to take the plunge and order a real bed. It was your standard mattress warehouse kind of set—very minimal, no frills—and, to be honest, it wasn’t much better than the air futon situation. It was too soft, not supportive, and within months it had that same crater that I had been creating since I was a teen.

And that was just the first of several unsatisfying beds in my adult life. I’ve broken bed frames. Last year I hopelessly crushed my boyfriend’s box spring after 6 months of visits. I eventually ended up with an all-foam mattress that I bought on Amazon, and it was my most satisfying mattress purchase to date, but it was so hard to move around in. Once I was in bed and in position, I was basically stuck there. My other big complaint about it was that I couldn’t sit on the edge to get dressed because there was literally no edge support. But I was sure that this was just my lot in life as a fat person—this was the best I was going to get.

But then I got the Big Fig. And look, I’m trying really hard not to be too cheesy here, and I’m not going to say that the Big Fig is a miracle worker or that it’s changed my life— I only got this thing a few weeks ago—but I will say that I am honestly sleeping better than I ever have.

So, if you haven’t heard of the Big Fig, let me give you a quick run down of what it is and why it’s different. The Big Fig is the first mattress ever created with plus size people in mind. They took all of the problems that fat people have with beds—mattress sag, poor support, weak foundations, material shifting, etc.—and looked for a better way. What they came up with is a mattress that is a hybrid construction of coils and high density foam, firmer edge support, thermogel cooling technology, and a foundation that supports 5X the weight that a standard foundation does. There’s tons more technical stuff than I could possibly ever talk about here, so you should go to bigfigmattress.com to check it all out when you’re finished listening here.   

Most importantly, though, my fat friends keep asking me what it feels like—whether it’s firm or soft, whether it’s hot to sleep in, how supportive it is—so I’ll tell you what it feels like for me. The first thing I noticed when I sat down on my new Big Fig is that the edge support really is amazing. On other mattresses I always felt like it just crumpled under me when I sat down, but on the Big Fig the edge feels substantial and strong. Also, I decided to get the Big Fig frame as well, and no bed frame has ever felt so solid. Plus, it’s made of recycled railroad steel, and I don’t know why but I just find that so enchanting.

The true test was actually laying down to sleep in the Big Fig, and I was super impressed on that front as well. It’s definitely a firm support, but the foam layers on top make it feel anything but hard. I got that perfectly cradled feeling that I liked about my all foam mattress but with the structured support that it was missing. Plus, the coils provide the bounce I need to be able to move around comfortably.

Now, as I said I’ve only had the Big Fig for a few weeks, so I can’t speak to longevity at this point, but since Big Fig IS a new ad partner, I’m going to keep you updated on how it’s going. If these first few weeks are any indication, though, I think I’m going to be in love with this mattress for a long, long time.

So if you are looking for a new bed and you’re plagued by a history of mattresses that aren’t supportive, that sag after only a few months, or that just plain break down under you, you should consider the Big Fig. Go to bigfigmattress.com to learn all about it and use the promo code FATLIP for $100 off of your purchase! I definitely don’t regret it, and I don’t think you will either.