Does Moissanite Scratch or Get Cloudy? (What Is Really Happening)

No. Moissanite does not get cloudy, and in normal wear it does not scratch either. Those two worries come up more than anything else we get asked, and both have specific causes that are worth separating from the stone itself, because what people usually see is a dirty ring, a tarnished setting, or a different gemstone entirely.

Why moissanite does not scratch

Hardness is measured on the Mohs scale, which ranks a material by what can scratch it. Moissanite sits at 9.25. Diamond is 10, sapphire and ruby are 9, and quartz is 7.

That number matters because almost everything a ring meets in daily life is quartz or softer. Household dust is largely quartz at around 7. Sand is quartz. Steel is about 4.5. Glass is 5.5. None of it touches a 9.25 stone. This is why moissanite is one of the few gems suitable for a ring worn every day without thinking about it.

Two things can scratch moissanite: a diamond, and another moissanite. In practice that means storing rings loose in the same box, where they knock against each other. Keep them separated and the problem does not arise.

Why moissanite does not cloud

Cloudiness in a gemstone comes from internal structure or from surface degradation. Moissanite is silicon carbide grown in controlled conditions as a single crystal, so there is no internal haze to develop and no porosity for anything to seep into. The stone that leaves our workshop is optically the same stone in ten years.

It also does not react with anything you will realistically meet. Chlorine, salt water, sweat, perfume, hairspray and household cleaners do not etch it. That is not true of every stone: emeralds are commonly oil-treated and can be damaged by solvents, and pearls and opals are genuinely fragile.

So why do people say their moissanite went cloudy

Because something did change, and it was usually one of these four.

1. It is dirty, and that is nearly always the answer

A film of skin oil, soap residue and hand cream builds up underneath the stone where the light enters. You cannot see the film, but you can see the effect, which is exactly the dullness people describe as cloudiness. It develops slowly enough that there is no single day you notice, which is why it feels like the stone changed.

Warm water, a drop of dish soap, and a soft toothbrush underneath the setting for thirty seconds. Rinse and dry. Most rings brought to us as cloudy are clean and bright again in a minute. Do this every couple of weeks if you wear it daily.

2. The setting tarnished, not the stone

Sterling silver tarnishes. That is what silver does, it is not a fault, and it is not covered by any warranty anywhere because it is expected behaviour for the metal. A darkened silver setting makes the stone above it look dull even when the stone is spotless. A polishing cloth reverses it in a minute.

Rhodium plating on white gold is the other one. It wears through after a few years and the yellow gold underneath starts to show, which reads as the ring looking tired. Replating is routine bench work.

3. It was not moissanite

This is the uncomfortable one and I would rather say it than not. Cubic zirconia does cloud. It is softer at around 8 to 8.5, it abrades with wear, and the surface micro-scratching scatters light and produces genuine permanent haze within a couple of years. White sapphire has the same problem for the same reason.

A lot of what gets sold cheaply online as moissanite is neither. If a ring genuinely clouded, the first thing worth doing is having the stone tested. Any jeweller with a dual tester identifies moissanite in about thirty seconds, and it either is or it is not.

4. Damage to the setting, not the stone

Bent or loose prongs let the stone shift and sit at a slightly wrong angle, which changes how it returns light. It looks like the stone went dull. It is a bench repair of a few minutes.

How to keep it looking new

• Clean it every couple of weeks with warm water, dish soap and a soft brush, working underneath the stone
• Take it off for gym sessions, gardening, and anything involving heavy lifting. Most ring damage is impact to the metal, not the stone
• Store rings separately, not loose together in one box
• Have the prongs checked once a year, more often on a halo where there are more of them
• Skip ultrasonic cleaners at home. Moissanite tolerates them, but the setting may not, particularly on older or repaired work

What genuinely does change over time

To be complete, three things do age, and none of them is the stone clouding.

Silver tarnishes, as above. Rhodium plating wears off white gold and needs redoing every few years. And prongs wear thin over many years on any ring with any stone, which is what the annual check is for.

The stone itself does not change. That is the part that is genuinely different about moissanite compared with cheaper alternatives, and it is most of the reason we build with it.

FAQs

Does moissanite get cloudy over time?

No. Moissanite is a single crystal of silicon carbide with no internal structure to haze and no porosity. Apparent cloudiness is nearly always surface dirt, a tarnished setting, or a different stone sold as moissanite.

Does moissanite scratch easily?

No. At 9.25 on the Mohs scale it resists everything it will meet in ordinary life, since household dust and sand are around 7. Only diamond and other moissanite can scratch it.

Will moissanite scratch like cubic zirconia?

No, and this is the clearest difference between them. Cubic zirconia is roughly 8 to 8.5, abrades with wear, and develops permanent haze from surface micro-scratching within a couple of years. Moissanite does not.

How do I clean a cloudy moissanite ring?

Warm water, a drop of dish soap, and a soft toothbrush underneath the setting for about thirty seconds. Rinse and dry with a lint-free cloth. If that does not restore it, have the prongs checked and the stone tested.

Can I wear moissanite in the shower or the pool?

The stone is unaffected by soap, chlorine and salt water. The metal is the consideration: silver tarnishes faster with frequent wetting, and soap film builds up under any setting, which is the actual cause of dullness.

Does moissanite lose its sparkle?

Not permanently. If it looks less bright than it did, it is dirty or the setting has tarnished. Both are reversible in under a minute.

How long does moissanite last?

Indefinitely, in the sense that matters. The stone will outlast the setting holding it, and the setting is repairable.

Where to go next

If you are comparing moissanite against the stones that genuinely do cloud, we cover moissanite versus cubic zirconia and white sapphire versus moissanite in detail. If you want to check what you already own, this piece explains what a diamond tester actually measures and how to run the loupe test yourself. And if you are choosing a setting for daily wear, our bezel settings protect the stone edge better than prongs do.