Gemstone Cleaning Chart

Follow the guidelines in this Gemstone Cleaning Chart to properly care for and clean your gemstone beads and jewelry.

Gemstones require different cleaning methods based on their hardness, this chart lists the recommended cleaning methods for each stone in order to achieve desired results.

Cleaning Gemstones
	Gemstone	*Toughness	**Mohs Hardness	Steaming	Ultrasonic	Boiling	Soap	Untreated Cloth
	Agate	Fair	6 1/2 - 7	No	No	Never	Yes	Yes
	Alexandrite	Excellent	8-1/2	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
	Amazonite	Poor	6 - 6 1/2	Never	Never	Never	Safe	Yes
	Amber	Poor	2 - 2 1/2	No	No	No	Luke-warm soapy water is safe. Do not use a brush because it may leave scratches.	Yes
	Amethyst	Good	7	Risky	Usually Safe	No	Yes	Yes
	Angelite	Poor	3-1/2	Never	Never	Never	No	Yes
	Apatite	Fair	5	Never	Risky	Never	Safe	Yes
	Aquamarine	Good	7 1/2 - 8	Usually Safe (unless it contains feathers or fractures)	Usually Safe	No	Yes	Yes
	Aragonite	Fair - Poor	3 1/2 - 4	Never	Never	Never	Usually Safe	Yes
	Aventurine	Good	7	No	No	Never	Yes	Yes
	Beryl	Fair - Very Good	7 1/2 - 8	No	No	Never	Yes	Yes
	Calcite	Fair - Poor	3	Never	Risky	No	Cool soapy water is safe	Yes
	Carnelian	Good	7	No	Usually Safe	No	Yes	Yes
	Chalcedony	Poor - Fair	6 1/2 - 7	Yes	Yes	Never	Mild is safe. Be sure to remove residue.	Yes
	Chrysocolla	Poor	2 - 4	No	No	No	Luke-warm soapy water is safe. Do not use a brush because it may leave scratches.	Yes
	Chrsoprase	Fair	6 1/2 - 7	Yes	Yes	Never	No	Yes
	Citrine	Good	7	No	Usually Safe	No	Yes	Yes
	Coral	Fair	3 1/2 - 4	Risky	Risky	No	Yes	Yes
	Cubic Zirconia (CZ)	Good	8-1/2	Safe	Safe	Safe	Safe	Yes
	Diamond	Excellent	10	Yes	Yes	Never	Yes	Yes
	Diopside	Poor	5 1/2 - 6	Never	Risky	No	Safe	Yes
	Emerald	Poor - Good	7 1/2 - 8	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Fluorite	Poor	4	Never	Never	Never	Safe	Yes
	Garnet	Good	7 - 7 1/2	No	Usually Safe	No	Yes	Yes
	Goldstone	Good	5 1/2 - 6	Never	No	Never	No	Yes
	Howlite	Fair	3 - 3 1/2	Risky	Risky	Never	Safe	Yes
	Iolite	Fair	7 - 7 1/2	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Jade, Jadeite	Exceptional	6 1/2 - 7	Safe	Safe	Safe	Safe	Yes
	Jade, Nephrite	Exceptional	6 - 6 1/2	Safe	Safe	Safe	Safe	Yes
	Jasper	Fair	6 1/2 - 7	No	No	Never	No	Yes
	Jet	Poor	2 1/2 - 4	Never	No	Never	Mild soap is safe, and a small amount of mineral oil will restore shine.	Yes
	Larimar	Fair	4 1/2 - 5	Never	No	Never	Yes	Yes
	Lava	Fair - Good	3 - 3 1/2	Never	No	Never	Very mild soap or Himalayan salt to remove essential oils. Be sure to rinse all residue.	Yes
	Kyanite	Poor	4 - 7 1/2	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Labradorite	Poor	6 - 6 1/2	Never	Never	Never	Safe	Yes
	Lapis Lazuli	Fair	5 - 6	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Magnesite	Poor	3 1/2 - 5	Never	No	Never	No	Yes
	Malachite	Poor	3 1/2 - 4	No	No	No	Safe	Yes
	Marble	Poor - Fair	3 - 4	Never	No	Never	No	Yes
	Marcasite	Very Poor - Poor	6 - 6 1/2	Never	No	Never	No	No
	Mica	Poor	2-1/2	Never	No	Never	No	Yes
	Moonstone	Poor	6 - 6 1/2	Never	Never	Never	Safe	Yes
	New ''Jade''	Poor	2 1/2 - 6	Risky	Never	No	Safe	Yes
	Obsidian	Fair	5 - 5 1/2	Never	Yes	Never	Yes	Yes
	Olive ''Jade''	Poor	2 1/2 - 6	Risky	Never	No	Safe	Yes
	Onyx	Good	6 1/2 - 7	Yes	Yes	Never	No	Yes
	Opal	Very Poor - Fair	5 - 6 1/2	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Pearl	Poor	2 1/2 - 4	No	No	No	No	Yes
	Peridot	Fair - Good	6 1/2 - 7	No	Risky	No	Safe	Yes
	Prehnite	Fair	6 - 6 1/2	Never	No	Never	Yes	Yes
	Pyrite	Poor	6 - 6 1/2	Never	No	Never	Mild	A soft cloth is safe.
	Quartz, Crystal	Good	7	No	No	Never	Yes	Yes
	Quartz, Rose	Good	7	Never	Yes	Never	Yes	Yes
	Rainbow Moonstone	Poor	6 - 6 1/2	Never	Never	Never	Safe	Yes
	Rhodochrosite	Poor	3 1/2 - 4 1/2	No	No	No	Cool Soapy Water	Yes
	Rhodonite	Poor - Good	5 1/2 - 6 1/2	Safe	Usually Safe	No	Warm Soapy Water	Yes
	Riverstone	Fair	3-1/2	No	No	Never	Yes	Yes
	Ruby	Excellent	9	Yes	Yes	No	Lukewarm Soapy Water is safe.	Yes
	Sapphire	Excellent	9	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
	Selenite	Very Poor	2	Never	No	Never	No	Only if dry, as this stone can dissolve in water.
	Serpentine	Poor	2 1/2 - 6	Risky	Never	No	Safe	Yes
	Shell	Fair	3-1/2	Risky	Risky	Risky	Safe	Yes
	Shungite	Poor - Fair	3 1/2 - 4	Never	No	Never	Yes	No
	Soapstone	Poor	1 - 2	Never	No	Never	Yes	Yes
	Sodalite	Poor	5 - 6	Risky	Never	Never	Safe	Yes
	Spinel	Good	8	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
	Sunstone	Poor	6 - 6 1/2	Never	Never	Never	Safe	Yes
	Tanzanite	Poor	6 - 7	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Tigereye	Good - Excellent	7	Usually Safe	Usually Safe	Never	Yes	Yes
	Topaz	Poor	8	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Tourmaline	Fair	7 - 7 1/2	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Turquoise	Poor - Good	5 - 6	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
	Zircon	Fair - Good	6 1/2 - 7 1/2	No	No	Never	Yes	Yes

*Toughness:

Toughness is a material's resistance to breakage. The combination of hardness and toughness largely defines the durability of a gemstone.

**Mohs Hardness:

A measure of a mineral's hardness and its resistance to scratching, invented by Austrian mineralogist, Friedrich Moh. The scale goes from talc (number 1) being the softest, to diamonds (number 10), being the hardest substance known by man.

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