Soap is simply an alkali mixed with an ester (or fat). A soap molecule has one end which is negatively charged, which attracts water. The other end attracts dirt and oil, and these particles are then effectively "insulated" from the water. This is why soap removes dirt.
I never had a problem with inorganic Chemistry at University. (Organic Chemistry, on the other hand, was a complete nightmare). But even if the thought of chemistry fills you with dread, making soap is really easy. However, one needs to be careful when handling sodium hydroxide (NaOH). When I was at school, we had a biology project in which we either had to perform a taxidermy on some poor dead creature, or mount the skeleton of some other poor dead creature. I chose the first option; but one of the girls in my class elected to display the skeleton of a rabbit. The flesh was removed from the bones by soaking them in a solution of sodium hydroxide. The silly girl put her hands into the mixture to remove the nicely-cleaned and whitened bones. Unfortunately the sodium hydroxide started to do its cleaning and whitening on the flesh of her fingers, so she spent the next few weeks with bandaged hands. So do not touch sodium hydroxide unless you are wearing gloves. And some safety glasses would be a good idea as well. You have been warned!