Your session is over, but your tan is only getting started. What happens in the hours and days that follow decides whether your glow lasts five days or ten. The starting rule fits in one sentence: wait 3 to 5 hours before your first shower, and leave your skin alone until then.
The first 3 to 5 hours
The shade you see when you finish your session is not the final result. The solution keeps developing on your skin for several hours. This window is the most fragile part of the whole process, and it is where most of the accidents happen.
During those hours, avoid anything that makes you sweat and any contact with liquid. No workout, no dishes, no sink. And be especially careful if it is raining outside: a few drops on your shoulders leave light marks that show clearly once the shade has developed.
No makeup, no cream and no perfume either, for at least 12 hours. In the days after, if you want to wear perfume, spray it on your clothes or your hair rather than straight onto your skin. The alcohol in it strips the shade wherever it lands.
If you touch your skin before the first rinse
It happens. If you touch your skin with your fingers during the development window, your palm may turn orange or brown, because the skin on your hands absorbs the solution much faster than the rest of your body.
The reflex to have: wipe the inside of your fingers and your hand with a damp, soapy cloth, right away. Be careful not to wet the rest of your hand or your arm, or you just move the problem somewhere else.
Your first shower
After 3 to 5 hours, you can rinse. Rinse your body and face with lukewarm water, until no more tanning colour runs onto the shower floor. What washes away is the cosmetic bronzer on the surface, not your shade: that one is already in your skin.
Two things to remember for that particular shower: no soap, and lukewarm water only. Soap and hot water attack the shade before it has finished setting. You go back to your normal routine from the next shower on.
The products that strip your glow
This is the point clients underestimate the most. Plenty of drugstore soaps, lotions and sunscreens contain ingredients that dissolve the shade. Read the label and avoid alcohol, parabens, mineral oils, petroleum, sulfates and fragrance.
In practice that rules out a good part of the mass-market ranges, the likes of Dove, Olay, Eos or Bath & Body Works. They are not bad products, they are simply not compatible with a sunless tan. A gentle, fragrance-free lotion will make your glow last considerably longer.
Daily moisturizing
Moisturize your skin every day, with a suitable lotion. It is the highest-return habit of the whole routine: supple skin keeps its shade even and fades gracefully, while dry skin flakes in patches and leaves light spots.
Exfoliating and waxing
Do not exfoliate for as long as the result lasts. Exfoliating removes the layer of skin that carries your shade, which is exactly what we want to avoid while the glow is there.
No waxing either on the areas where the solution was applied: wax pulls off the surface layer and leaves a pale stripe. Gentle shaving can be done occasionally, without pressing.
Heat, pools and sport
Heavy sweating, hot tubs, saunas, long hot baths and pools all make the result fade early. You do not have to stay home, but each of these shortens your tan. If you have an event coming up, plan your session accordingly.
When your glow starts to go
A sunless tan fades, it does not peel off all at once. When you see the shade starting to lighten, that is the moment to start exfoliating again: it lifts the last coloured cells evenly and leaves clean skin, ready for your next session.
And if you want to start the next one right, it all plays out beforehand: read how to prepare your skin for a spray tan. Preparation and aftercare are two halves of the same thing.
