The color I get from tanning lotions with cosmetic bronzers added normally takes 4 hours to fully develop. If I shower before that time I'm not receiving the ful benefit of the bronzers. Because I feel gross when I can't shower (especially with lotions that leave worse than average after tan odor) I tend to go tanning in the late evening, come home & get into jammies & shower in the morning. I've never had the lotion/bronzers rub off on my sheets.
As others have said, moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! Body lotion is more easily absorbed when your skin is still damp from the shower and I also keep a bottle on my nightstand to use at random times. If you don't have someone at your home to help you apply lotion in hard to reach places (ie. your back) you can purchase a lotion applicator designed to reach those places at your tanning salon - I have two, one in my tanning bag for applying tanning lotion at the salon & one in my nightstand for
moisturizer .
One last thing, make sure to check the ingredient list on your
moisturizer to make sure it doesn't contain mineral oil which is NOT good for your skin. You'll find it in alot of "bargain" lotions as mineral oil is very cheap for manufacturers to purchase and use. Two lotions I love are Body Drench's SunSplashed Mango (smells awesome!) athough their whole line is good, and Tan Inc's Brown Sugar lotion which contains bronzers. Both are available through salons only & if your salon doesn't carry a particular fragrance you want it you can ask them to order it for you, thats what I've done in the past for my Brown Sugar
moisturizer .
Happy Tanning!