I use a mix of cotton tape (Velox) and cork ribbon (usually Cinelli, but ac tually whatever is lying around). This gives me comfort and the vintage look.
Step 1: wrap the bars, or whatever part is most crucial to your comfort (fo r me just the tops down to the levers) with cork ribbon spares. Tape it off with electrical tape.
Step 2: go to http://www.raydobbins.com, and look at how he wrapped the bars on hi
s beautiful Molteni Merckx and modify to suit. He launders his cotton; I
don't. But I do follow him by starting at the tops, carefully covering
the campy brake mounts (with levers removed), then finishing off with bar p
lugs. Re-attach the levers when you're done and you have the best of bot
h worlds. No slipping.