I just leapt in with the sodium hydroxide but then I am a lab technician and do much scarier things at work.
Have been using (and liking) my very first bar of soap but it seems to become rather soft if it doesn't get a chance to dry out between uses.
I used a book called Self Sufficiency Soap Making by Sarah Ade which I really like but I did actually change the recipe completely since all of hers use palm oil and I didn't want to use it. It is probably going to make me a bit nervous about experimenting with different oils since it takes a long time to make and uses a lot of ingredients.
Can't wait to make my next block though. It is going to be soon since my husband complained of the hippy oil (patchouli) I used in the first batch.