diff --git a/lib/needle.js b/lib/needle.js
index 13e7c417f..04d796689 100644
--- a/lib/needle.js
+++ b/lib/needle.js
@@ -205,6 +205,7 @@ Needle.prototype.setup = function(uri, options) {
     http_opts : {
       localAddress: get_option('localAddress', undefined)
     }, // passed later to http.request() directly
+    headers   : {},
     output    : options.output,
     proxy     : get_option('proxy', defaults.proxy),
     parser    : get_option('parse_response', defaults.parse_response),
@@ -231,7 +232,9 @@ Needle.prototype.setup = function(uri, options) {
   //////////////////////////////////////////////////
   // headers, cookies
 
-  config.headers = defaults.headers || {};
+  for (var key in defaults.headers)
+    config.headers[key] = defaults.headers[key];
+
   config.headers['accept'] = options.accept || defaults.accept;
   config.headers['user-agent'] = options.user_agent || defaults.user_agent;