I started on my hair "journey" in Dec 05, with my hair just to my shoulders. I was washing 3x/week for a few months then went to daily co-washing because I was working out really hard. I was also bunning everyday and my hair grew really fast. By May, my hair was about an inch past collarbone. I wasn't really totally happy with it though because I couldn't curl it with a curling iron, which I only tried twice in 6 months. The ends were very frizzy, but I was trying to do the "no trim" thing, plus I didn't know any stylists I could trust. Then after all the washing, bunning, and product junkie-ism my hair starting coming out like crazy. I thought maybe it was just shedding, but it wouldn't stop...just long strands coming out when washing, combing, whatever. I was crushed...after all my hard work and money spent on various products, scarfs, bone combs, etc., I couldn't figure out what was wrong...finally I broke down and went to a stylist for a trim/cut that was recommended to me by a relative. Thankfully, she was great and diagnosed me with extremely mushy hair from too much washing and co-washing. She did this strand test on my hair to show me how damaged it was. She pulled out a strand of my hair then held it between her fingers and stretched. It stretched like rubber, which she said was not good and was a sign of mushy hair...all this time I thought that meant it was healthy, but my hair had no tensile strength. Then, while she was stretching it, all of a sudden it broke, but it didn't break in half, it broke lengthwise in 3 or 4 different long strands. She said this is what is happening all over your head and that is where all your shedding is come from. My already fine hair was breaking up the shaft in several finer lengths and that's why my hair seemed like it was falling out like crazy. So she gave me a great cut...it was so nice I didn't mind losing the inch and a half or so. Then she recommended I do an aphogee treatment once every 4-6 weeks followed by an extremely moisturizing conditioner w/heat. I added the porosity control after reading a thread on LCHF..I was scared but thankfully it was the icing on the cake. She also said to only wash once a week with a deep conditioner and stop doing that "no trim" thing and just stop by every once in a while and she would analyze my ends to see if they were doing okay. She was great, didn't try to cut off all my hair, and wasn't trying to get me to come in every 2 weeks, which I refuse to do anyway. She was a blessing! So far with what she did and suggested my hair is in the best condition ever and it seems that 3 months will be the trim limit for me. She says this time there will be no cut, just a slight trim. After almost a year of floundering around trying to figure out what is right for my hair, I think I finally have a hold on things, but I digress....I did need professional help, which I had completely shunned. Even though I do my own relaxers and most of my hair care myself, I will continue to go to the stylist for the trims and diagnosis to keep me on the right track. I'm sorry this is so long, but I thought I should share my experience for some ladies who may have been struggling for a long time and still can't seem to get things right. One thing I have learned for sure....just because something works for someone else doesn't mean it will work for me and vice versa.
I havent had any adverse effects so far and Ive been doing it since high school.
The texture of my hair seems to be changing and I just can't go w/o washing it, often. I hope that I'll be able to continue daily washing during colder months w/o getting sick.
Wow I didn't know you were transitioning to natural, that's something, good luck girlie I know you can do it, I just hopw your not going to do the big chop (trauma) and just trimm off the relaxed ends.
It did cross my mind very briefly and then, I started feeling naked from the thought of getting rid of all of this hair.
I am now back to washing my hair once a week, twice a week at the most.
Frequent manipulation was not good on my hair. 
