That’s right. It turns out that hockey tape is better than electrical tape. I can’t speak for the non conductive properties of hockey tape but it’s definitely stickier than electrical tape and just about as cheap.

For non-Canadians, hockey tape is tape that is wrapped around a hockey stick on the blade where the puck makes contact and sometimes at the top end to aid in grip.
I cut a small strip and wrapped it around the end where the wire is attached to the jack.
Pros
- It’s sticky
- It’s strong
- It’s black
- It’s cheap
Cons
- It looks a little cheap
- Require’s a little bit of work and dexterity
So far it has been about six months and it’s holding up quite well and seems to stronger than the original. I may want add this preventively to cheap headphones on the other stress areas such where the earpiece connects to the wire and on the ‘Y’ joint.
I have also applied hockey tape to the frayed cover on a cell phone charger.

Frayed Cell Phone Charger

Repaired Cell Phone Charger