I think i had an ingrown toenail but i cut it off...

The skin around one side of my big toe got really hard and incredibly sore, and I noticed that the nail was digging in. So I simply lifted the part of the nail which was causing discomfort and cut it off. Although this was painful, a friend said the same happened to him so he cut it off and the discomfort stopped after a couple of days.

But afterwards I looked up ingrown toenails on the internet and it would appear that I had one (or was about to get one). Did I do the right thing by cutting it off? Underneath where that part of the nail was it's white with a bit of black. It's still a bit sore but I did only cut the nail 10 minutes ago... So have I done any more damage or did I stop it before it got bad?