[ajgriff]

I've done this a good few times with curly telephone cords. Never used dowels but just dropped the entire cord into a pan of boiling water for a couple minutes. Any kinks or twists need to be removed first by runnng the cord through finger and thumb with a tight grip. Seems brutal but has always been successful. Good opportunity to clean off accumulated grime before boiling as well. Cords come up like new.

Alan