Gem hardness—it matters!

"I'm engagement ring shopping and looking for a pearl." 

Every time we hear it, a tiny part of us winces a little. It's not because we don't love pearls—we do!—but they aren't up to the task of being in an active person's every day ring. All gems have one characteristic that's absolutely under-considered when jewelry shopping: hardness.

Hardness is how resistant a stone is to scratching... and all gems are not created equal.

One of the reasons diamonds are at the center of an estimated 90% of American engagement rings is because they're the hardest natural substance on earth! While it's certainly true that they sparkle and go with every outfit—they're also extraordinarily durable.

Gemstone hardness is quantified on the Mohs scale (named after the man who created it), which rates stones' hardness from 1 to 10. Talc and graphite are a 1 and diamond is (the only) 10.

The great thing about the Mohs scale is that it's easy to understand because it isn't exponential or logarithmic—it's relative; that is, it simply means that 10 is harder than 9, 9 is harder than 8, and so on. Keep in mind that it does not measure how much harder one stone is than another; for instance, the difference in hardness between a diamond (10) and sapphire (9) is huge, but the gap between sapphire (9) and topaz (8) is significantly smaller.  

For something you wear everyday, we'd love it if you aimed for at least an 8+ on the Mohs, which includes sapphire, ruby, and diamond—and because sapphires come in nearly every color, you're not just limited to blue! Remember, though, this is your jewelry and you should absolutely have the piece you want, we just encourage you to be mindful whether that glittery hunk of earth on your hand needs a bit of extra care.