Like animals, rare and endangered plants can be illegally taken from the wild—often in South Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia—and sold for exorbitant amounts of money. Bárbara Goettsch, Ph.D., a conservation biologist and the co-chair of the IUCN SSC Cactus and Succulent Plant Specialist Group, tells mbg that just last year, 1,000 Chilean cactuses were poached in Chile’s Atacama Desert and shipped to Italy to the tune of more than $1.2 million.

Although many cactuses are listed on the CITES treaty of protected endangered species, Goettsch notes that their unique colors, shapes, and highly prized flowers still make them a target for illegal trafficking. And with all the #plantlife on social media these days, Goettsch has even seen evidence of such trafficking on sites like Instagram and Facebook.

Plants that are rare and time-consuming to grow in a nursery are oftentimes the ones being poached. Goettsch says that in addition to succulents, certain carnivorous plants, orchids, and aloes are at risk.

To avoid accidentally buying into this harmful trend, she suggests shopping from a supplier who is transparent about where their plants come from. As always, shopping from local shops is a good idea because you can cut down on shipping miles and really get to know the people who work there and their practices. (For those in the Baltimore area, B.Willow is one shop Goettsch recommends, as they’ve partnered with the IUCN CSSG on some pretty cool conservation initiatives.)

Your skin is equal parts delicate and resilient. Resilient in the fact that it is constantly repairing and healing itself. Delicate in the fact that it is bombarded with internal and external aggressors daily, and thus highly susceptible to damage. And when we think of skin agitators, perhaps we think of normal talking points: UV damage, pollution, allergens, stress, and so on. But perhaps one of the main sources of user behavior. Yes, you may be doing quite a bit of harm to your precious skin.

Now, people come to skin care with the best of intentions. No one (or I hope no one) turns to skin care routines with the intent to harm their face. But in many cases, we end up doing so because we don’t know how to properly use a product, tool, or treatment; we do too much overall; we opt for ingredients that aren’t suited for our unique skin needs or types; or we simply make mistakes in our overall routine, not knowing they are faux pas. 

Recently I was chatting with behavioral scientist Perpetua Neo, DClinPsy, about skin care habits gone wrong (listen for yourself in our recent episode of mbg’s beauty podcast Clean Beauty School!). Neo specializes in helping type-A individuals, and her work is all about encouraging people to move past their perfectionist hang-ups that might be unknowingly holding them back. And honestly, many skin care enthusiasts often fall in this category—at least as far as their skin care goals are concerned. 

Here, she shared some of the mistakes many of us make, that again are borne of good intentions, just happen to set us back in the long term.