bust care

The claim this category is built on

Creams marketed for the bust generally promise firmness, lift or an increase in size. None of those outcomes has good evidence behind it. Breast tissue is largely fat and glandular tissue supported by ligaments, all of it well below the layers a cosmetic reaches, and a product applied to the surface of the skin does not travel there or act on it. Saying so costs a sale and is the only defensible position.

• A topical works on skin. It reaches the outer layers and stops, which is what a cosmetic is defined as doing.
• Size is not a skin property. What determines it sits far below anything a cream contacts.
• Firming claims are marketing. Skin can be made softer and better hydrated; the structure underneath is unaffected.
• If a product promises otherwise. That is a reason to trust it less rather than more, whoever is selling it.

What is actually in them

Read as skincare rather than as a treatment, these are unremarkable and reasonable formulas. They all carry retinol, most carry a fruit extract for scent, and several add vitamin E, aloe or a plant oil. The retinol is the only genuine active in the group, and what it does and does not do is a longer conversation than a product name allows.

• Retinol throughout. The schedule and the cautions that come with it are set out on the retinol page, and they apply here in full.
• Vitamin E in several. Mostly protecting the oils in the jar, as described on the vitamin E page.
• Fruit extracts for scent. Pineapple, watermelon and raspberry are doing aromatic work rather than active work.
• Three formats, one idea. A butter, a scrub and a serum sold separately and as sets, which is a routine rather than three different products.

The pregnancy question, plainly

A significant share of the people who look at products like these are pregnant or have recently given birth, and that matters here more than anywhere else on the site. Retinoids as a class carry a pregnancy caution, and standard advice is to avoid them during pregnancy and breastfeeding unless a doctor says otherwise. Every one of them contains retinol, so the caution applies without exception.

• Every one contains a retinoid. There is no retinol-free option in this group.
• Ask before, not after. A doctor or midwife is the right person to answer this, and the answer overrides anything written here.
• Skin changes during pregnancy. Sensitivity often increases, which is a second reason to raise it rather than assume.
• Nothing on this page is medical advice. It describes what is in a cosmetic and where the limits of one are.

What these can reasonably be bought for

Stripped of the claims, there is still a sensible product here. Skin on the chest is thin, gets more sun than people expect, and is often the last place anybody moisturizes. A scrub and a butter used on it will make it softer and better hydrated, exactly as they would anywhere else, and that is a modest and genuine reason to own one.

• Moisturizing thin skin. The chest is frequently neglected and responds like any other skin.
• Gentle exfoliation. The scrubs work the same way as the rest of the sugar scrub shelf.
• Sunscreen matters more here. This is an area that ages visibly from sun exposure, and no cream substitutes for covering it.
• Buy it as body care. Judged as a body butter for a specific area, it is a fair purchase.