diff --git a/core/src/ui/render_state.rs b/core/src/ui/render_state.rs
index 06bc266..376216c 100644
--- a/core/src/ui/render_state.rs
+++ b/core/src/ui/render_state.rs
@@ -388,6 +388,12 @@ impl UiRenderState {
     ) -> Option<Size> {
         #[cfg(feature = "layout-diagnostics")]
         diag::bump(Counter::ReuseAttempts);
+        // Only its own dirtiness, not anything dirty under it that could
+        // change the size this hands back. What makes that safe is the order
+        // `redraw_updates` settles in, and nothing else: by the time a reader
+        // draws, everything dirty below it has been drawn and has propagated.
+        // Draw in another order and this returns a stale size -- measured, on
+        // seed 2 of `tests/generated.rs`.
         if rsc.widgets().needs_redraw.contains(&id) {
             #[cfg(feature = "layout-diagnostics")]
             {
@@ -587,8 +593,11 @@ impl UiRenderState {
         #[cfg(feature = "layout-diagnostics")]
         let _layout = diag::timer(TimerKind::IncrementalLayout);
         // A reader's answer is only valid after every dirty size it reads has
-        // settled. Equal-depth widgets are independent, so their order does
-        // not matter. Resize dirtiness already marks whole reader chains, so
+        // settled, and taking the deepest first is what arranges that --
+        // `try_reuse` hands back a retained size without asking whether
+        // anything dirty sits under it, so this order is load-bearing for the
+        // answer and not only for the cost. Equal-depth widgets are
+        // independent, so their order does not matter. Resize dirtiness already marks whole reader chains, so
         // choosing their shallowest roots coalesces descendants that share a
         // reader and gives each changing box its final constraints first.
         while let Some(id) = {