Buy, Dupe, or Splurge

Cicaplast Balm B5+ is the tube that lives in a lot of dermatologists’ drawers, and it earns that by being unfussy rather than clever. Panthenol, madecassoside, shea butter and glycerin over a dimethicone-based protectant, fragrance-free, sold in a size and at a price that lets you use it without rationing. It is a multi-purpose repair balm — face, hands, lips, a child’s chapped cheeks, the patch of a tattoo that is still settling — and its strength is that it is boring enough to reach for daily. If you want a single tube covering every kind of chapped, raw or over-treated skin in the house, this is the default answer.

Panthenol at five percent is the headline. It is provitamin B5, converts to pantothenic acid in the skin, and has decent evidence for supporting barrier recovery and reducing the water loss that keeps damaged skin damaged.