Can Rose Quartz Go In Water? (Beginners Must Read This FIRST)

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Rose quartz can go in water, but we do NOT recommend that you put rose quartz in water for any extended period of time.

This will be contrary to much of the advice you will see online. But let us explain.

Can Rose Quartz Go In Water? (EXPLAINED)

Why Can’t Rose Quartz Go In Water?

The short is answer is that water baths and soaks can damage your crystals.

Why Is Water Bad for Rose Quartz?

What we have to say here about rose quartz applies for most (if not all) crystals or minerals that you are working with.

The Water Encourages Physical Damage

Every mineral, we don’t care how well it is polished and how smooth it looks, has microscopic fissures and cracks.

When you place that stone in water for longer periods of time, water molecules get into the cracks and encourage the cracks to grow.

Microscopic cracks can turn into visible cracks. And over time, those visible cracks can turn into a broken piece of rose quartz.

You may never even see the cracks. You might just experience a broken piece of quartz and not understand why.

The physical damage is more likely to occur the softer the material is. On the Moh’s scale of hardness, quartz is on the upper end, in the range of 6-7.

But other crystals that are in the lower ranges, especially under 5, are the most vulnerable to cracking or breaking as a result of water soaks, even if they are not especially soluble.

The Water May Also Damage the Finish or Coloring

A sad result experienced by many people who are new to minerals and crystals is that they buy a beautiful piece and then place it in water (or even salt water) because they heard that this is the way to “cleanse” the crystal.

When they remove the crystal from the water bath, they see that their shiny crystal is now dull, rough, or have even changed colors.

Many minerals are treated with oils to make the finish shiny. Water helps strip these away.

Materials may have been used to make the surface of the stone shiny. Water will encourage any surface materials that don’t belong there to leave.

Water can react with the material and result in a permanent change in the surface of the material, deep enough that polishing or even grinding off the outer layer can’t return the stone to its original color.

The Water Encourages Rust in Materials Containing Metals

Rose quartz (like many beautiful stones) is that color because of the presence of metals like iron or manganese. When metals like iron get exposed to water, what do you think they do?

They rust.

Water can climb up into those tiny cracks, and start the process of reacting with the iron to produce rust. The result is that you might start to notice yellowing, or even reddish brown stains spreading across the stone that cannot be scrubbed away.

You might not think that your material contains any metal. But believe us, many minerals that are collected and sold around the world include traces elements of other materials that the sellers didn’t even know about.

You think you have pure quartz? Maybe not.

You think that you have pure obsidian? Probably not, especially since the obsidian color is caused by inclusions of all different kinds of elements.

You think that you know what you have in your hands? Without a confirmation of the chemical composition, many stones of similar color look and behave really similarly.

You can’t assume that your stone has no metal in it. Or do so and accept the risk.

Why Do So Many People Recommend Soaking Quartz in Water If It Could Damage The Stone?

Great question. We think that most people don’t realize the trouble that water soaks can cause because with hard materials like rose quartz, the damage takes a lot of time to manifest.

If you put selenite in water, you can quickly observe that the stone is starting to dissolve.

If you put materials with copper in water without proper ventilation, and start to feel sick, you know that you’ve created some toxic fumes.

But when you put rose quartz in water, the rusting can take a long time to develop.

When you place quartz in water and it encourages cracks, the break in the stone happens much later, at a time when you would not connect it to the water.

You might assume something metaphysical, or that quartz just breaks when you drop it.

Not only that (and we hate to say this), but it is possible that a lot of the materials people think are rose quartz aren’t actually rose quartz (containing iron) at all.

It may be dyed quartz, or even something synthetic which does not behave the same was a quartz would when placed in water.

How to Clean Rose Quartz Without Soaking It

Rose quartz can be cleaned with water. If you want to use water, we recommend a quick dip, buff with a soft cloth, and then put it in a safe place to thoroughly dry. Make sure to flip it once or twice so that no water accumulates as the result of gravity.

If you don’t want to get any water on it at all, that’s all good, too. You can simply buff it will with a soft cloth.

How to Cleanse Rose Quartz Without Soaking It

We recommend against soaking quartz. Instead, we think that you should try some of the other methods that resonate with you, such as meditation, breathe, or even placing your quartz with cleansing stones like selenite.

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