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Henrietta spent hours taking care of those nails, touching up chips and brushing on new coats of polish. She’d sit on her bed, polish in hand, hair high on her head in curlers, wearing the silky slip she loved so much she hand-washed it each night. She never wore pants, and rarely left the house without pulling on a carefully pressed skirt and shirt, sliding her feet into her tiny, open-toed pumps, and pinning her hair up with a little flip at the bottom, “just like it was dancin toward her face,” Sadie always said.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Does this mean giving a little shake with her fingers? I can't visualize this.

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    In women's hairdos of my youth in the 50s and 60s a 'flip' was a fairly wide falling tress ending in a strong upward curl, like this – StoneyB on hiatus Feb 19 '16 at 20:34
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    As @StoneyB has recalled +1 here. It should not be confused with hair flip (the action) as here – Peter Feb 19 '16 at 20:37
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    Thank you. Do any one of you mind posting a short answer so I can wrap this question, please. – whitecap Feb 19 '16 at 20:42
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Your passage comes from the award winning book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks which recounts the life and times of the donor of one of the oldest and most common human cell lines used in scientific research: HeLa. Henrietta Lacks died in 1951 from cervical cancer.

In women's hairdos of the 50's and 60's a flip was a fairly wide falling tress ending in a strong upward curl. (ref: @StoneyB)
here

It should not be confused with hair flip which is an action used by persons with long hair to gain attention or when flirting
here http://creditplushealth.org/health%20picture/Anna%20Kournikova%20Hair%20Flip.jpg

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