A bold seasonal soap designed to wake up winter skin and senses. Made with nourishing plant oils and butters, coconut milk, and invigorating essential oils, this scrubby bar delivers a crisp, energizing aroma and a satisfyingly textured lather that helps revive both body and mood during the cold months.
Good For: All Skin Types • Winter Itchy Skin • Mild to Moderate Exfoliation
Winter Survival is all about contrast — rich, moisturizing lather paired with a bright, invigorating essential oil blend that cuts through winter heaviness. It’s the soap many customers reach for when mornings feel dark, cold, and slow.
As you lather, the aroma comes alive first. Crisp, cooling, and penetrating, the essential oil blend feels immediately energizing, helping clear the senses and jump-start the day. It’s refreshing without being sharp and uplifting without being overpowering — a scent that feels especially welcome during long winter stretches indoors.
The bar itself has presence. Botanicals add a comfortably scratchy texture that helps loosen dry, flaky winter skin, while the creamy, butter-rich lather cushions the exfoliation. Skin feels refreshed and awake, not raw, and noticeably more comfortable after washing.
Formulated with extra nourishing oils and coconut milk, Winter Survival is generously superfatted, helping offset winter dryness while still delivering the stimulating experience people love.
This is our best-selling seasonal soap, made in limited batches and available only from late fall through late winter. When it’s gone, it’s gone until next season.
Every ingredient in this soap is chosen for a reason. Thoughtfully combined, they work together to create something richer than a simple cleanse — a carefully crafted seasonal bar that goes beyond ordinary soap.
Highlights of this recipe:
👉 Learn more about our Aroma, Texture & Lather notes
Revitalizing aroma. Satisfying scrub. A winter soap that wakes you up.
The purpose of soap is to combine with oil and dirt on the body, which allows water to wash it away. The method you use to cleanse your skin is really a personal preference. We thought we would share just a few examples.
Bar Bathers rub the bar directly on their skin to create a creamy lather. Massaging the velvety lather into your skin before rinsing allows you to experience the best moisturizing properties of the soap. This is definitely the best way to use exfoliating soaps.
Hand Latherers create lather in their clean hands and use the lather to massage and wash the skin. This gentle, mild cleansing method may be good for those with sensitive skin.
Washcloth Washers use a washcloth to lather up. Washcloths are made out of lots of different textile textures, from soft cotton to agave fibers, and can provide very gentle to intense exfoliation. Be sure washcloths are laundered and dried often.
Puff Polishers use a mesh puff that works up a foamy, bubbly lather, even with hard water, to wash and gently exfoliate the skin. Poofs make natural soap last longer but can harbor bacteria, so rinse thoroughly after use and replace every few weeks or clean per manufacturer's instructions.
Loofah Latherers love their loofahs that exfoliate and help increase circulation. Whole loofahs can be breeding grounds for bacteria, so be sure they dry out properly after use and replace them every two months. If you would like something less abrasive, check out our Bath & Body Accessories.
Soap Sackers place their soap into a nylon soap bag. The fibers have a smooth texture for gentle cleansing. Soap sacks can be used for whole bars of soap or scraps that would normally be thrown away.
There is a large variety of bathing accessories available. If using any accessory, never share them with others and replace or clean them often.
The goal is simple: to Harness the Power & Simplicity of Nature® to cleanse, soothe, heal, and protect your skin and hair!
Our unique formulas rely on moisturizing oils and butters, healing botanicals, and pure essential oils. We choose every ingredient with one end-result in mind….the BEST possible natural skin care for YOU!
Organic Tea Tree Essential Oil
Organic Eucalyptus Essential Oil
Organic Coconut Milk
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*Ingredient is Fair Trade Certified ^Used in the saponification process to turn oil into soap and glycerin. None remains in the finished product.
Made with certified organic Coconut Milk, Green Tea & Cocoa Butter
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Overall rating: 4.858369 / 5 from 233 reviews.
Natural Soap: Winter Survival is praised for its ability to soften and hydrate skin, its delightful fragrance, and its effective lather that doesn't dry out the skin. Customers appreciate its size and pleasant smell, making it a refreshing choice for winter mornings.
Review topics: [ingredients, results, feels, smells, fragrance, skin, looks, shipping, hair, gift, favorite, use, customer service, difference, works, effect, soap, bar, lather, moisturizer, lotion, hands, shampoo, winter survival, shower, exfoliation, shampoo bar, winter, water, wash].
"I love this soap. The scent is very pleasant, it has a scrubbiness to it and it moisturizes dry winter skin. After the first bar I purchased 4-5 more to keep in stock. If the scent is available in any non-seasonal bar I would like some."
— Michael L. (5/5)
"Love the winter survival soap so much. It’s extremely hydrating, the gentle exfoliation doesn’t irritate my angry winter skin and the smell is incredible. I made a point to stock up since it’s seasonal and really works great with sensitive skin and eczema"
— Susan (5/5)
"I love this soap! Great scent! A also for calendula salve. It seems to be helping my eczema."
— Lori S. (5/5)
"Love winter survival soap especially after a challenging winter & working hard as a 12 hr. Night nurse. Best morning shower ever!!!"
— sofia d. (5/5)
"Chagrin Valley”Shampoo” is the only thing I can wash my hair with without my scalp breaking out. I have tried every shampoo over my lifetime —even specialty shampoos for sensitive skin—and finally I thought about doing something completely different and natural. I thought I’d see if there was such thing as soap nut shampoos. I found your products and gave it a try. Now I have used various soaps you have and I only rarely have small breakouts. Game changer! I also began to use the body soaps. Currently I am using the Nettle Shampoo and Winter Skincare body wash. Not a fan of the scent of the body wash and wish it was a little more moisturizing. But it’s still good soap."
— Anna R. (5/5)
"Soap for everyone in my house (and the Winter Survival is the perfect seasonal feel and scent) , shea butter for every pregnant lady I have known, hair oil for baby's cradle cap, cocoa butter for my high altitude post menopausal skin. Thanks for everything."
— Kusam R. (5/5)
"The Chagrin ads motivated me to read the ingredients of my shampoo and body wash. The list of chemicals was off-putting. The Chagrin offerings really feel good. Results with hair from Chagrin is positive."
— ROY M. (5/5)
"Winter Survival is fantastic! My skin doesn't feel as dry since using Winter Survival. Smells great too!!"
— Christine D. (5/5)
"I’m very pleased with all items. I will be ordering again- :)"
— Susan (5/5)
"I love the Winter Survival Soap! It smells great, lasts a long time, and is so incredibly moisturizing. I've included it in holiday gifting for a few years, and finally got a bar for myself last year - this is a repeat purchase."
— E H. (5/5)
Regular handwashing is one of the best ways to remove germs, avoid getting sick, and prevent the spread of germs to others.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) says that for good hand hygiene all you need is plain soap and water.
Clean hands can stop germs from spreading from one person to another and throughout an entire community.
Five simple and effective steps can help reduce the spread of illness so you, your family, your friends and the general public can stay healthy.
CDC recommends cleaning hands in a specific way to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. The guidance for effective hand washing was developed based on data from a number of studies.
1. Wet your hands with clean, warm running water and apply soap.
2. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap.
3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds.
4. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.
To date, studies have shown that there is no added health benefit for consumers (this does not include professionals in the healthcare setting) using soaps containing antibacterial ingredients compared with using plain soap.
Information is taken from the CDC.gov website
Read our blog "Simple Soap Can Help Decrease the Spread Of Viruses"
NO! Adding antibacterial chemicals to soap does not keep your family safe from germs.
I understand why folks (especially those with children) are choosing products labeled “Antibacterial,” hoping to keep their family safe in the war against germs.
According to Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER).
"Consumers may think antibacterial washes are more effective at preventing the spread of germs, but we have no scientific evidence that they are any better than plain soap and water.
In fact, some data suggests that antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good over the long-term.”
Simply washing your hands with old-fashioned natural soap and water rids your skin of most fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Soap does not kill germs, it surrounds them and carries them away.
Please read our blog: Antibacterials: More Harm Than Good!
How long a natural soap bar will last depends on:
For one person showering every day, a well-drained bar should last for about one month.
Natural soaps are normally softer than commercial soaps because they retain their natural glycerin (which is removed in commercial soap production) and contain no artificial hardening chemicals, synthetic waxes or free alkali.
We also superfat our soaps (add extra oils or butters) and use "softer" oils so that Chagrin Valley natural soaps are more emollient and leave skin feeling moisturized.
Different oils impart different qualities to soap. Some add lathering qualities, some moisturizing, some hardness, and so on. Compared to other natural bars, we use a larger percentage of extra moisturizing and conditioning oils in our soaps and shampoo bars. These oils produce a bar that may not be as hard as bars with less conditioning oils.
How you use the bar will also affect its lifespan. For example, do you use a washcloth, an exfoliating accessory, or only the bar? Although exfoliating loofahs and sponges are great they will use up the soap much faster than a washcloth or the "only the bar" purists.
Our Natural Soap Will Last A Long Time With Proper Care
Cute Story: A customer called to say she loved our soaps but could not buy them anymore because they did not last as long as other soaps. A week later she called to place an order and apologize. Her husband, who would NEVER use her natural soaps before, fell in love with her new Juniper soap . . . and he showered twice a day!
To maximize the life of your soap, keep it in a well-drained soap dish so it can dry between uses.
We sell a handcrafted solid white oak soap dish. The deep ridges are perfect for keeping your all natural handcrafted soap dry between uses. White Oak is the wood used in shipbuilding.
A tip passed on by one of our customers whose kids always leave the soap in a water puddle: cut the large bars in halves. Then alternate the halves, allowing a longer drying time between uses.
Have you ever enjoyed the scent of a fragrant flower or herb? The fragrance comes from potent, aromatic compounds called essential oils found in the flowers, stems, seeds, bark, roots, fruits, and other parts of plants. It often requires several pounds of a plant to produce a single bottle of essential oil.
Essential oils not only give plants their unique scents but also help lure plant pollinators and protect plants from insects and other predators.
The chemical composition of essential oils may provide valuable psychological and physical aromatherapeutic benefits for some people.
It is important to note that to be a true essential oil, the oil must be isolated from the plant material by physical means only. Essential oils are NEVER extracted using solvents.
Although synthetic fragrances or "nature identical" oils are available at a much lower cost, only natural plant essential oils will provide any aromatherapeutic benefits.
What Are Essential Oils (Much more detail)
How Essential Oils Are Extracted
Why We Use Only Real Plant Essential Oils?
If you are pregnant or under a doctor's care for any medical condition, please consult your healthcare provider before using essential oils.
Pregnancy & Children: We do not provide information on the safety of essential oils during Pregnancy or for use in Children because the available information is very ambiguous and often contradictory. If you’re interested in using essential oils during pregnancy or with young children please do your own research and consult your doctor, midwife, or health care professional before use.
We sometimes receive emails that go like this:
The good news is that when you purchase natural soap from an organic skincare company, it is scented with only pure essential oils.
The bad news is that when you purchase natural soap from an organic skincare company, it is scented with only pure essential oil.
The scent of an essential in any totally natural product can and will change over time and from batch to batch.
Essential oils come from nature. The quality and scent of essential oils are affected by yearly weather conditions and varies from crop to crop and region to region.
This makes it very difficult to produce finished products in which the scents are always exactly the same.
Most commercial soaps (and skincare products), even some of the "natural" ones that contain some essential oils, are made with at least some synthetic fragrances oils, nature identical oil, or natural fragrance oil. Using any synthetic fragrance ensures a more consistent scent.
Essential oils are temperamental to work under any circumstance. But while a natural essential oil scent blend may change a bit in a cream or oil, these blends are especially unpredictable when making cold processed natural soap.
After all my years of soap making in never ceases to amaze me just how much the actual soap making process changes the scent of an essential oil blend.
Natural Soap and Essential Oils
Why We Use Only Real Plant Essential Oils?
Natural Fragrance Oil? . . . Really?
Why Are Synthetic Fragrance Oils So Popular?
The most important consideration in any business is its customers. Today's world of misleading claims, false advertising, and simple deception, often leaves consumers trying to discover the truth about personal products and their ingredients.
Some of my favorite products are made with ingredients that just do not exist as certified organic. Why? At this time there are no standards created for ingredients specifically used in the personal care product industry. Organic certification of personal care products is based on the organic food standards set by the National Organic Program of the USDA.
But since we are a certified organic company, we are required to submit documentation that even our "non-organic ingredients" were produced without the use of toxic pesticides, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), sewage sludge, or irradiation.
Why Did We Become a Certified Organic Company?
What Do All of the Organic Labels Mean?
There are many wonderful things about winter, but the cold dry, windy air outside combined with the dry heated air inside and lower humidity drain moisture causing dry, flaky, irritated, red, or itchy skin. With a little extra TLC you can have soft smooth radiant skin all winter long.
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Get informed about exfoliation! Explore the basics, benefits, and best practices for exfoliating your skin so you can make informed decisions about your skincare. Exfoliation can help encourage cell turnover, unclog pores, allow moisturizers to penetrate more effectively, and refresh the skin.
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at our soapmaking process, from formulating recipes to selecting natural ingredients. Learn what sets our handmade soaps apart and how we ensure each bar meets our high standards for quality and craftsmanship.
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