Headphone cable straightening

Hey everyone, I've just got a iPhone 3G and with the way the headphones were packaged in the box the left earphone keeps popping out of my ear when moving around, has anyone worked out a way to straighten the cabling out?

I noticed that the cabling is different than previous earphones with the iPods the insulation is more silicon-like than the standard plastic coating from before which makes it harder to straighten out.

So far I have tried wrapping them around my coffee in the morning at work hoping that the warm liquid will soften it up and re-mould them but it hasn't made a difference.

I'm trying to do this without stressing the connections at the earphones, microphone or the plug itself.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

Sorry if this topic exists elsewhere, but several Google searches turned up nothing.