If you are a beginner wanting to give a batch of soap a shot you should be able to find almost everything you will need locally. The only thing you will need to order online is lye. There are many online suppliers, I personally have had great experiences ordering sodium hydroxide. Look for a supplier that knows there are hazmat restrictions on the amount of lye that can be shipped, and what it can be shipped with (for instance you cant ship citric acid and sodium hydroxide together) Once you have your lye reference my soapmaking supply list (found here) for the rest of the supplies youll need. There are tons of exotic oils out there that can be soaped but for your first batch you can keep it very simple. Simpley pick up some lard, olive oil and coconut oil. That will get you a decent bar of soap.
4 pound batch- not vegan
Coconut Oil- 14.4 oz
Lard-19.2
Olive Oil-14.4oz
Water-16 oz
Lye-6.9oz
Gentley melt your lard down,, and if your coconut oil is solid then you can add it into once the lard is melted and that will help cool your melted lard, then add in your olive oil.
Now get your safety gear on, gloves and goggles and gather your scale, metal bowl, spoon, lye and water (in your pitcher) measure out your 6.9oz of lye and very carefully add your lye into the water- NEVER put the water into the lye. That is very important. Always lye into water. Stir until its disolved and let it cool. When your oils and lye water are both cool you can begin to soap. But first you will want to ready your mold. If you have purchased body safe fragrance or essential oils or coloring now is the time to measure and have them ready. Once all of that is ready-and you are geared back up with gloves and goggles grab your stick blender and slowly pour your lye water into your oils and stir your mixture, you can give it a few bursts of the stick blender on low. Soon youll get the hang of using a stick blender, if you love to stir just use a spoon, but a stick blender makes soap trace much faster. When your soap begins to look like a thin custard you can put in your fragrance or coloring now and bring it to a full trace-it will look like thin pudding. If you pull your spoon out and let a drop fall itll hold that drop for a moment, at this point you are ready to pour. Pour into your mold and put it in a warm place, either in an oven with a pilot light or an over turned box with blankets insulating it. Leave it there for at least 12 hours, you can of course peak, after about 24 hours you should be safe to unmold, if you just cannot wait, check it after 12, if its still squishy put it back to bed. You can cut your soap as soon as its solid enough to handle. You should wait 3 weeks to use your soap. But personally I have never lasted that long. I always give a sliver of soap a go to see how the soap turned out right after Ive cut it. I dont recommend that, but its your call.
Enjoy your soap!