Hair Flip

"I like my hair
Really, it is pleasant to the touch

I toss my hair a bit too much."

—Leaf, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Your hair is so flippy.

—Ron Stoppable referring to his not yet girlfriend

Flipping your hair. This can vary from running your hand through your hair to brushing a few locks out of your eyes to giving your Rapunzel Hair a good toss, but it almost always conveys nearly the same things: confidence, arrogance, vanity. As such, it is a gesture most often employed by Bishounen, The Ojou or the Alpha Bitch, though kinder characters can also use it to merely accentuate their femininity or show that they're in a good mood. A bishounen's hair flip is usually accompanied with a large helping of Bishie Sparkle - females are also accompanied by Slow Motion.

Examples of Hair Flip include:

Advertising

Every Shampoo advert ever.
In a Coast Capital Savings (a Canadian credit union) ad, a man remarks that he's losing his hair due to the stress of dealing with banks. His wife tells him that with Coast's low fees, she's sure it'll all grow back. They enter the bank to find customers and tellers flipping their beautiful, long, luscious hair in slow motion to enchanting music.

Anime and Manga

Akio from Clannad does it sometimes when he's feeling dramatic.
Koizumi does this in Haruhi Suzumiya right after taking down a blue giant.
- Haruhi does this herself at the end of the opening credits of her show as well in the episode "Melancholy II", rightfully indicative of her... forceful personality.
Homura of Puella Magi Madoka Magica does this a lot. She's not used to having her hair loose instead of her braids from the first time loop.
Sesshoumaru from Inuyasha tends to do this when he feels he's being forced to explain something obvious.
In Tiger and Bunny, hair flipping is one of Barnaby's many fangirl-drawing techniques.

Film

The 1999 Charlie's Angels film has Cameron Diaz's character do this in order to attract the attention of a guy.

Lucy Liu: Flip your God. Damn. Hair.

- Lucy Liu does this in every single close up.
Cameron Diaz also did it in her first movie, The Mask.
James St. James has a habit of doing this to seemingly no end in Party Monster.
Gen telling the Ice Princess to "Work the hair."
Pretty much every time a woman with long hair takes off a Motorcycle helmet, especially if she's been assumed to be male until that point.

Live Action TV

On Charlie's Angels the Angels were going undercover via trying out for a cheerleading squad. One of the guys hiring really hated hair flipping, so the girls told some other girls that he loved it, to increase their chances of getting on the squad.
- In the Charlie's Angels TV series opening credits, Kelly Garrett (Jaclyn Smith) did one after taking off a motorcycle helmet. Watch it here, starting at 0:40.
In Friends, Ross' cousin Cassie (played by Denise Richards) does this, causing Chandler, Ross, and Phoebe to stand slack-jawed while Barry White plays in the background.
According to Ashley in Two of a Kind when a guy nods to say hi, a girl should respond with a smile and Hair Flip as Mary-Kate does. You should avoid sending your hair clip flying into the punch bowl however.
Shawn Hunter on Boy Meets World had one of those 90's curtained hairstyles that required him to constantly brush it out of his face. He got a haircut in the later seasons, though.

Music

The Willow Smith song and music video "Whip My Hair" is all about this.

Newspaper Comics

Peanuts: Frieda whenever she talks about her "naturally curly hair."

Professional Wrestling

A signature taunt of WWE Diva Maryse.
Irish indie wrestler Katey Harvey does this quite a bit as well.
WWE wrestler Kane does this often, usually during his entrance. Although many long-haired wrestlers have done a hair flip at some point in their careers, Kane has used it on more than one occasion to respond to someone in lieu of actually saying anything (not because he was incapable of talking as he was early in his career—more likely because he didn't want to).

Theatre

Wicked: "And this is how you toss your hair. * Toss* You can toss it like this * Toss* or toss it with your hand * Toss* or use your whole body." * TOSS*
As the quote above says, Leaf says he tends to do this, but he probably shared that in a moment of Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny.

Video Games

Rufus Shinra from Final Fantasy VII, too.
Don't you forget Kuja. Don't you dare.
- Beatrix does this too.
Richter from Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World does this as well, to summon Aqua.
Heike Kagero does this in Super Punch-Out. As he's a kabuki-dancing boxer, he also uses his hair as a weapon in the ring.
Raven King Naesala does this in an introductory cutscene, helping to establish how incredibly smug he is before he gets even one spoken line.
When Prince Peasley flips his hair, he gives off a Bishie Sparkle so bright, it whites out the entire screen!
Zaki from Live a Live does this.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee , Link's fighter stance was him running his fingers through his hair
The narcissistic Zhong Hui in Dynasty Warriors really likes touching his hair.
Leon Magnus in Tales of Destiny tends to flip his hair, showing his arrogance in general.

Visual Novels

Ace Attorney: Matt Engarde does this to reveal his scar and his true personality.
- Mia Fey does this from time to time, usually when about to present a particularly effective argument.
- Winston Payne does this on making a point in Apollo Justice. He's bald up top, but grew out the remaining fringe until he could pull it off.

Web Comics

Vriska Serket gives her hair a good toss in the "Alterniabound" flash.
- Which one fan took to its logical conclusion...
Finn from Warrior U is grudgingly impressed by Darren's perfect little hair flip, but can't seem to master it himself.

Darren:This tournament's going to be too easy! *Flick*
Finn: I wish I could flick my hair like that... *Fwick*

Web Original

Dana in Echo Chambers Trope of the Week "Unresolved Sexual Tension.

Dana: I could let my hair down and be all "Hair Flip! Hair Flip!" and you'd be like "Oh, that is so-super-sexy, how did I not realize."

- She does the Hair Flip just after Letting Her Hair Down for the first time in the series.

Western Animation

Totally Spies!: Clover demonstrates proper hair-flipping technique to a just-captured villainess on an agent.
Ty Lee does this in The Beach episode. sparkles are involved.
Prince Charming in Shrek.
Nick in Jimmy Neutron.
Justin from Total Drama Island loves this trope.
In the Kim Possible episode "Mind Games," Ron (in Kim's body) invokes this trope, much to the annoyance of Kim (in Ron's body):

(Body-switched Kim talks to Wade on the Kimmunicator as body-switched Ron flips his/her long auburn hair forward and back.)
Kim (as "Ron"): Until we find Drakken and his machine, we'll just have to deal. (looks at Ron) What are you doing?
Ron (as "Kim"): Your hair. It's so... flippy!

The red-haired goth kid from South Park constantly flips his huge bangs out of his eyes.
Princess Clara's "special" cousin Bleh does this (to shake her hair out) after removing her safety helmet. It lasts a good five seconds.
In The Legend of Korra, Asami seems to flaunt her voluminous raven black hair this way. First time she does it is after removing her helmet and infatuating Mako after accidentally running him over on a scooter in "A Voice in The Dark". She does it again after getting back up after overloading poor Naga and considering an alternative means of transportation in "When Extremes Meet". And odds are she'll be doing it plenty more times.