"It'll make me bulky." No. Creatine fuels the training you do — it doesn't add size independent of the work. Women who look substantially more muscular got there through years of deliberate heavy training and eating for it.
"It'll make me puffy." The water creatine draws goes into the muscle cell, not under the skin. Those are different compartments and they look completely different. In a randomised controlled trial in women, five days of loading at four times a normal serving produced no significant increase in body mass. (Moore et al., Nutrients, 2023.)
"It's a steroid." It isn't. Creatine is a compound of three amino acids, made in your own liver and kidneys, and found in red meat and fish. Your body is producing it right now.
"It's bad for your kidneys." Not supported in healthy people at recommended doses. Studies following athletes supplementing for up to five years found no adverse effects on kidney function. (It does raise blood creatinine slightly — a normal consequence of higher creatine stores, not a sign of damage. Worth mentioning before routine bloodwork.)
"I need to load, then cycle off." Neither. At 3–5g daily, muscle stores fill in about three weeks without a loading protocol. Loading gets you there in five to seven days and is where most reports of stomach discomfort come from. And cycling off just drains what you filled.
"Creatine is for men." This one has a specific origin: most creatine research was conducted on men. Which is unfortunate, because women carry substantially lower creatine stores than men at baseline — 70 to 80% lower, according to a 2021 review in Nutrients. Same compound, same dose range. Different starting point.