Ingrown toenail removal: do it yourself

Before you start, you will need:  
-nail scissors
-needle-nosed (or bird beak) pliers, the finer and longer the tip, the better (helps to grasp small pieces of nail in tight spots)
-alochol (to sterilize the equipment you are using)
Optional but helpful:
-nail clipper with "hook" part that I think is for opening bottles (these bottles are not really made anymore).  This will help you to dig up nail that is wedged in the skin, then you can grab it with the pliers and pull it out.
-Tweezers, this can help to get some skin or nail that your pliers may not be able to get.  However, I recommend using a fine pliers over tweezers, because most tweezers just don't have the strength to rip out nail.

Steps:
1) Soak toe in hot water with 1 slightly heaped teaspoon of salt per ~210mL of water for 15 minutes.  This will make the next step much easier
**NOTE:  I no longer soak my toe in hot water before I cut out the ingrown portion of the toenail.  Sometimes I just do the procedure after I'm finished showering and sometimes with no immediate previous exposure of the nail to water.  An advantage to not soaking the toe first is that when you remove the toenail, it is more likely to rip out in one piece rather than break (as is more likely the case when the nail is soaked).**

2) Using a sterilized nail scissors (you can purchase this at your local pharmacy, Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada) push the tip between your toenail and nail bed close to the skin (on the side of the ingrown toenail), and cut the nail as far down to the root as you can go (i.e. until it just hurts too much to continue if it hurts at all).
3) Using a sterilized needle-nosed or bird-beak pliers (preferably one with teeth), grasp the nail portion that you just cut tightly in the pliers (and I emphasize tightly, otherwise the pliers will slip off the moist nail), and slowly but continuously peel/rip away the nail and its attached incised portion from your toe, I would say to pull the pliers in the direction towards your heel, but do what you think is best; the goal is to remove the nail sliver as well as the incised portion of nail

There may be a little blood, but other than that, you should be able to walk right away on it.

Note:  to sterilize equipment, soak a paper towel with alcohol and rub/hold onto equipment for 30 seconds.
If you are using a pliers that has been used for mechanical work, make sure to clean it thoroughly.