Ledisi & Zendaya's Speak Out and Loc It Down

When Giuliana Rancic quipped that Zendaya's Oscars hairstyle smelled of "patchouli oil" and "weed" on E!'s Fashion Police, she ignited a social media firestorm that led to Zendaya's public response, Giuliana's somber on-air apology, and Kelly Osbourne's reported departure from the show. But the exchange also sparked a national conversation about locs—a hairstyle that's been both vilified and venerated—that we're glad is happening.

Here, to explore why stereotypes about locs persist and how we can dismantle them for good, we spoke with three women who either wear locs themselves, create them for their celebrity clients, or both: Shelby Swain, Zendaya's Oscar night hairstylist; Felicia Leatherwood, Selma director Ava DuVernay's hairstylist; and Ledisi, acclaimed singer/songwriter who appears on the Selma soundtrack.

"Her intention from the beginning was to do a natural style, and we decided that the faux locs would be a unique and daring expression of her natural beauty and evolving fashion sense," says Zendaya's stylist, Shelby Swain.

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