What Healthy Skin Really Needs: The Barrier, Microbiome & Beyond — with Dr. Brent Ridge

Healthy skin doesn’t necessarily need more products, stronger actives or the latest trending ingredient. Sometimes, what it needs most is consistency—and a healthy environment in which to function.

This week, Carmine sits down with Dr. Brent Ridge, physician and co-founder of Beekman 1802, the goat milk skincare brand he built with his husband, Josh Kilmer-Purcell. Before entering beauty, Dr. Ridge practiced medicine at Mount Sinai and served as Vice President of Healthy Living at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Today, he brings that medical background to a philosophy Beekman has championed for years: supporting skin health rather than constantly trying to correct it.

Together, they explore why the skin barrier went from an obscure scientific concept to one of beauty’s biggest conversations—and how over-cleansing, over-exfoliating and simply using too many products can leave otherwise healthy skin sensitized. Dr. Ridge explains why he still considers cleansing the foundation of healthy skin and how the surface microbiome contributes to the remarkable resilience that allows our skin to adapt to changes in its environment.

They also go deep on the science of goat milk, including how its oligosaccharides may help nourish microorganisms such as lactobacillus, why Beekman’s Bloom Cream was actually named for the concept of a microbial “bloom,” and the surprising oncology research that first led Dr. Ridge to investigate goat milk-derived exosomes years before exosomes became one of skincare’s buzziest technologies.

Carmine and Dr. Ridge also tackle one of beauty’s enduring assumptions: that expensive skincare must work better. Dr. Ridge explains why price and efficacy aren’t directly correlated, when paying more may be worthwhile, and why the texture, sensory experience and pleasure of using a product can still matter if they encourage something far more important—consistency.

Finally, they examine the increasingly blurred boundaries between medicine, wellness and beauty; the promise and risks surrounding peptides, supplements and emerging health trends; and why scientific language can empower consumers to understand their bodies while also making it easier to sell them things they may not need.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why Dr. Ridge believes consistency is one of the most important principles in both health and skincare;

How over-cleansing, over-exfoliating and using too many products can compromise the skin barrier and contribute to sensitization;

Why the skin’s microbiome plays an important role in skin resilience and its ability to respond to a changing environment;

How goat milk oligosaccharides may help support microorganisms such as lactobacillus on the skin;

The unexpected oncology research that led Dr. Ridge to begin investigating goat milk-derived exosomes years before they became a skincare trend;