I think for almost every "rule" there are soapers who break that rule for a reason and get very good results. It depends on what you want, your budget, materials you have access too, etc.
As far as experimenting, I'd say some good rules are:
1) Make small batches. 5 lbs is a lot of soap if you don't it.
2) Consider the cost of your ingredients. If you want to do a soap that's 100% organic cocoa butter and you don't mind throwing it away if it doesn't work out, that's fine. But if it would kill you to throw it away - don't make it on a whim.
3) Don't tackle more than one problem ingredient at a time. These include milk (dairy or vegetable), honey, certain essential oils (cinnamon and clove, for example), certain FOs.
Thank you so much !!!!
