Your "angry soap" seems to have made you happy!
Salty gross -- yeah some some tastes like that. Yes it is safe to use but it's not going to be at its best until you let it cure for a few weeks. You will find cured soap will last longer in the shower or at the sink, the amount and quality of its lather will improve, and it may become a bit milder yet to the skin.
Whitish ash residue -- yep, you called it right. The white is soda ash (sodium carbonate). It is cosmetic. It will wash off in the first use or two or you can remove it if it bothers you.
You will want to study up about putting scent in your soap. It's important to not put so much in that you could irritate the skin, but to put enough in to get a reasonably lasting scent. The dosage will vary. Lavender is a classic scent for soap and usually works pretty well. You can use lavender essential oil or lavender fragrance oil.
I don't have personal experience using oatmeal in my soap, but I can say that crushed Quaker oats flakes are likely to be uncomfortably coarse and rough. Most people use very finely powdered oatmeal such as baby oatmeal. Or they will use "oat milk." Perhaps someone with more experience will share their suggestions about using oatmeal.
Colors and swirls -- the only advice I have on that for now is to haunt YouTube. One particularly good person I can suggest is Clyde Yoshida. In his YouTube videos, he explains the theory behind the colors he uses in his soap so you understand WHY a given color scheme is so attractive. He is very good at showing HOW he does his swirls. There are many other YouTube soapers who share their knowledge of coloring and decorative techniques. Also, enter the SMF soap challenges -- I guarantee if you want to learn, the challenges will help a lot. Here are videos of past challenge techniques:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9bN3rFKI_AyHN1ses6bpfQ
Hope this helps!
So the batch I made out of anger came out great! I've even been using it on my hands. I wanted to ask....
-I've done the Zap test but there was no zap. It was like a salty gross flavor? Is it safe to use?
- The images below show the outside of the soap. There seems to be whitish ash/residue? What is that?
Also for my next batch, I'm going to use the same recipe but add Lavender. Can I also crush up Quaker oats to put in? And how do people get colors and swirls?
