There I was, sitting cross-legged on a dusty concrete floor inside one of the many hair-braiding huts peppering the sprawling green hillsides of Kigali, Rwanda. After my French-speaking friend haggled for a good price in the bustling marketplace, I plopped down dutifully as three stylists huddled around me. For four hours they worked diligently, winding hundreds of ropelike wefts to form Senegalese twists that looked like tiny works of art taking flight from every direction.

The tugging at my scalp, the blazing heat inside the small space, the torturous wait time, and the beads of sweat forming along my fragile hairline all proved to be a worthy sacrifice in exchange for this masterpiece-in-the-making on my head. My new twists, which I quickly tossed into a messy half-top knot, might as well have been a crown. I felt queenly beneath them. The best part: I wouldn't have to do my hair for weeks. Weeks! With these waist-length Zoe Kravitz-inspired twists, life felt infinitely easier, my morning routine swifter, and I could go from swimming to a dinner party without so much as a blow-dry.

Adopting this hairstyle became an integral aspect of drinking in the cultural experience as a first-time visitor to East Africa—women sported braids and twists everywhere. But I wasn't sure how people would react back home in New York City.

At the office I found myself fielding responses ranging from shock to sheer confusion. (Wow! How did your hair grow so fast? Do you wash them? Is your hair still inside there? Those things look heavy! Don't they hurt?) Sure, the questions were innocent enough; though, laced with ignorance, they started to make me feel like I was wearing a target on my head.

Flash-forward to the Oscars, where Zendaya broke the mold—and the Internet—with long, neatly styled faux dreadlocks. They were an unexpected yet elegant complement to her ivory Vivienne Westwood gown. The controversy unraveled, however, when a TV personality took a shot at her locs, suggesting they made her look as though she smelled like weed.

The squeaky-clean Disney star took to Twitter to deliver a profound response: "My wearing my hair in locs on an Oscar red carpet was to showcase them in a positive light, to remind people of color that our hair is good enough. To me locs are a symbol of strength and beauty..."

We rarely think of a hairstyle as a form of activism, but Zendaya's image and thoughtful comeback set into motion an important paradigm shift. Her bravery, pride, and eloquence helped bridge the gap between people on both sides of the cultural divide. All through the lens of beauty. Rather than fueling the fire, she illuminated some important lessons for us all: What is unusual is not always threatening. What is different is not necessarily strange. And stereotypes are often dead wrong.