Wear gloves!
You gave yourself chemical burns by washing the pots in bare hands and got this:
Note to people reading: Caustic Soda is used to make soap…all soap in fact. It is added to the oils and mixed before being poured into the molds, during this time the soap is really caustic and can cause burns to the skin. But, it is not present in the finished bar because the chemical reaction makes the oils ‘eat up’ the caustic soda and in return turns the oils into soap. So unless the soapmaker is rubbish at their craft there is never any caustic soda in the soap.
