zlacker

Speaking of unwanted knot behaviors, your headphones will knot in a pocket if you reel them up around your hand as usual, introducing a twisting moment to the wire. They will knot much less likely, if you fold them into a /\/\/\ shape instead without rotational moves. Not applicable to wireless earbuds.

>>wruza+(OP)
That’s how I stow extension cords and water hoses; a bunch of loops to either side of a thick middle of parallel cylinders, hung on a peg. To stretch it back out, flop the lot on the ground, grab an end and pull. No twist was introduced, so it’s less likely to get bound up.

>>wruza+(OP)
One of the best way to prevent cable knots is to use the over-under technique. It helps prevent knots, and lets you unravel a cable extremely fast. I learned it in the audio industry, but it works great for cables of any size. This is a good and straightforward tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yPcJD7RVuY

>>mikegr+Wh
Great tip! I was taught that this method was called the "roadie wrap." Though I was shown that it's possible to achieve the rotation by rolling the cable between my thumb and index fingers.

>>mikegr+Wh
The big difference between the roadie coil in your YouTube video, and the folding technique in the parent comment, is the radius of the tightest bend.

A roadie coil produces consistent loops, which are large-radius bends, aka gentle bends. This is what you want for electrical cable, especially high-quality expensive cables you want to last a long time. Tight-radius bends, aka kinks, can cause premature failure.

Folding is fine if the cord is extremely flexible, or for rope.

Folding done right produces no twists at all about the axis of the line, which is ideal. That’s why it is the preferred method for packaging rock climbing ropes. The roadie coil produces alternating twists that mostly cancel each other out once it is fully uncoiled.

>>wruza+(OP)
I've once learned a method to fold my headphones cable that I cannot find anywhere online. You fold the cable in half, twist the cable lengthwise (imagine turning in one direction on a swing), fold the cable in half again and then twist in the other direction (which will mostly happen automatically, because of the tension). I don't remember the last time I had to untwist my headphones cable.