Sigma rituals honor members
Sigma, a social and service sorority, is part of Beta Sigma Phi, an international organization dedicated to life, learning and friendship.
The group’s spring activities, among others, included two ceremonies, a Ritual of Jewels for newest member Kathy Tucker, and a Laureate Ritual for Ora Mae Evans.
Laureate is the fifth degree and is bestowed on a member who has had eight years of active membership in Preceptor degree and has completed eight years of program work. Evans has been a member since 1994.
Home Solutions: What’s that orange stain?
Have you ever taken a shirt out of the washer and found it covered with mysterious orange stains? If so, you were probably stupefied.
What could have caused such a laundry mishap? Detergent? Dye from a different garment? An orange marker that made its way into the washer?
Although all of these are great theories, there is one likely culprit that you would never suspect. It comes in either a lotion or spray and you’ve been lathering it on since skin cancer became a well-known health threat. I’m talking about sunscreen — great for your skin, terrible for your clothes.
In all fairness to sunscreen, there is another compound needed to make these stains come about — the iron minerals commonly found in hard water.
Here’s how it happens: Sunscreen applied to your skin rubs off onto your clothing. Avobenzone, an ingredient in sunscreen, oxidizes the iron minerals found in the water. This reaction causes a colored stain (rust) on your garment.
So, what are thesolutions? Since your skin is by far more valuable than your clothing, eliminating the sunscreen is not an option, and buying brand new clothes all the time is not an option either. Instead, swap out your current sunscreen for one that is avobenzone-free.
Coppertone and Hawaiian Tropic both offer avobenzone-free lotions. If you don’t want to use a different sunscreen, take preventative measures like waiting for the sunscreen to completely dry before putting on your clothes.
To remove these stains when laundering, follow these steps.
If the stain is deeply saturated, soak the garment in an enzyme-breaking solution of water and oxygen cleaner for 12 hours. If the stain is light, apply an over-the-counter stain treatment and let it sit for five minutes. Bleach can be used on white clothing, if care instructions do not prohibit bleach.
Wash the item on the hottest setting tolerated by the fabric.
If the stain is still present, repeat the previous steps. Do not put it in the dryer! Heat from the dryer will cause the stain to set in.
Source: D. Douglas, Laundry Care
Trudy W. Pickett is extension family and consumer agent at the Lenoir County Cooperative Extension Office, 1791 N.C. 11/55. Reach her at 252-527-2191 or trudy_pickett@ncsu.edu.