Repetitive behaviours/stims are more noticeable than others?

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I've made the experience - one I can't quite understand by myself - that certain repetitive behaviours get lots of attention by default while at the same time others might be really prominent but nobody notices them.

Some stereotypes are often discussed and apparently to most people also easily noticeable though they may be rare and weak.
Hand-flapping being one. Or walking on your toes. Violent rocking that knocks you off the chair.

Do it once and people notice it instantly.

On the other hand, people fail to notice someone who's constantly swaying, rocking while remaining seated (as opposed to violent rocking) or head-shaking.

You know, I think that constantly shaking your head would be even stranger than walking on your toes, but most people, even the educated ones and the professionals, miss constant stereotypes of all kinds but easily notice that someone hand-flaps for several hours.

i shake my head a lot, i looove the sensation i get from it, i usually do that if im excited or happy, like flapping, if im really excited i flap, headshake, bounce, the works haha. I also rock sometimes violently very violently that ive broken chairs, but thats if im upset, or anxious, or frustrated for some reason, but yea i always sway or rock, and ppl have just become familiar with it now like their expect to see me do that, so idk if they dont notice it less or not... interestin tho, i love the way you think sora you always come up with such great thoughts and ideas hehe!

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Being Normal Is Vastly Overrated

I rock from side to side a lot. I also walk on my toes frequently (but I did it more frequently when I was younger) and I shake or flap my hands when I'm excited or I'm trying to remember something. It never actually occured to me until recently that nobody else I know does any of these things. Nobody except my mum and my close friends notice me walking on my toes, but I get a few comments on the fact that I rock from side to side.

I am the stim queen, but they're all subtle ones and my "hardcore" stims are all done alone.
I've noticed when I see other people stim it gives me the urge to it more, so when I'm with my aspie friends at school we look like we're doing some sort of a dance routine

Ah, the perfect place to post what happened to me today. Basically in the library watching videos of schizoaffective disorder and autism on youtube (taking advantage of the library's hi speed), I started rocking back and forth in my chair (in a stim-like way) and stopped when I realized it. I looked around and a group of teenagers were staring at me. I don't know if they saw what I was watching, but when I turned around they started to laugh... then I turned around again, they went silent but were still looking at me, then started to laugh again. I had to leave before I started to cry.

I also do this sway thing where I stand there and twist my body around, I do it in public all the time, but I don't know if anyone cares about that, or not.

Eventually some of your stims will become your defining personality quirks. My friends and coworkers notice my stims, and we have even talked about them, but they are not looked at unfondly within the right social circles. I rub the back of my head near the base of my skull, and this is my most uncontollable stim. When I get stressed I have to do it, no matter how hard I try not to. This probably looks very unsual to casual passerbys, but it is just something that I have to deal with. All I can do is hope that it does not cost me future opportunites.