I use Strappal sports strapping, 1" wide. It has the advantage of being tearable so that you don't need scissors.
Start about 3 or 4 inches from the end of the tail and smooth the hairs towards the tip before applying the first strip. You need a piece 4 inches long - wrap it around the tail sticky side up and stuck to itself. This is the only tricky bit, but is important as it stops hair being pulled off at the end of removal of tape.
Start the strapping proper by sticking the end of the roll (sticky side down) over the first strip and make one full turn. Be careful not to pull too tight - I pull the tape from the roll and then lay it on the tail rather than use the tail to lever it.
After the first turn, spiral up the tail overlapping by 1/3 to 1/2 of the tape's width. Overlap a little closer as you reach the tail tip.
One full turn at the tip, the spiral back down, overlapping as you go.Tear tape off when you reach the start point.
Take another 4" strip and do a full turn to act as a keeper strap. Keep the roll in your pocket - if anything starts to come undone it will be this strip. If you notice the end of the keeper strip lifting, don't remove anything but just put another keeper strip over the top
Voila! Sounds a very long-winded process but takes little time when you are used to it.
To remove strapping, just reverse the process. Because of the overlapping, the tape is only stuck to the tips of the hair and will peel off without loss of hair.