# Kinks in phone headset wires.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinks-in-phone-headset-wires/198917>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 1, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinks-in-phone-headset-wires/198917 "2003-09-01T04:30:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinks-in-phone-headset-wires/198917/1 "2003-09-01T04:30:18Z")

</div>

Is there an easy way to get rid of those annoying kinks in telephone headset wires (the spiraly ones) without working the kink to the end of the wire? There’s one in the phone here and it’s bugging me.  
If it can get in there, it must be able to get out.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BaldTaco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/47e85d/32.png) [@BaldTaco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldTaco)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinks-in-phone-headset-wires/198917/2 "2003-09-01T16:11:46Z")

</div>

I think you have to work it out to the end, or at least to a nearby kink going the opposite way. These kinks are a near obsession with me – I feel compelled to remove them when I encounter them. I can never figure out how people let them get so bad.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Church\_Key\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Church\_Key\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Church_Key_Kid)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinks-in-phone-headset-wires/198917/3 "2003-09-01T18:13:09Z")

</div>

Unplug the receiver and cord from the phone… hold the loose end of the cord and let the receiver dangle (you may need to stand up)… let is twist and spiral around until it stops… then plug it back in… the twists should be gone!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinks-in-phone-headset-wires/198917/4 "2003-09-01T22:28:24Z")

</div>

Just a small nitpick, but I think that is a _handset_ cord you are talking about, not a headset.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinks-in-phone-headset-wires/198917/5 "2003-09-02T00:00:14Z")

</div>

Yes. Handset. And **fatdave** it’s not twists, it’s where the normal twist (designed to make the stretch very far) switches from clockwise to anti-clockwise.

I’ll take your word for it **BaldTaco** that it needs to be worked to the end. It just baffles me how they can ‘form’ in the middle of a wire.

paging **Cecil**. I am sure you can solve this?..

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kinks-in-phone-headset-wires/198917/6 "2003-09-02T01:05:09Z")

</div>

My sister constantly twirls the phone cord around her finger as she talks, and can form such twists in the cord in less than 30 seconds flat! It takes me much longer to remove them.

I find them very annoying, and have even replaced quite functional cords just because they became too twisted.