diff --git a/History.md b/History.md
index 14a3cfc..3f4c1f8 100644
--- a/History.md
+++ b/History.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ HEAD
 
  * fix: inspection of `app` and `app.toJSON()`
  * fix: let `this.throw`n errors provide their own status
+ * fix: overwriting of `content-type` w/ `HEAD` requests
  * refactor: use statuses
  * refactor: use escape-html
 
diff --git a/lib/application.js b/lib/application.js
index 1b135ba..80ce7f4 100644
--- a/lib/application.js
+++ b/lib/application.js
@@ -179,8 +179,11 @@ function *respond(next){
   // ignore body
   if (status.empty[code]) return res.end();
 
-  // status body
   if (null == body) {
+    // empty body
+    if (head) return res.end();
+
+    // status body
     this.type = 'text';
     body = status[code];
   }
diff --git a/test/application.js b/test/application.js
index 324ea2b..4e0a297 100644
--- a/test/application.js
+++ b/test/application.js
@@ -189,6 +189,22 @@ describe('app.respond', function(){
       .head('/')
       .expect(200, done);
     })
+
+    it('should not overwrite the content-type', function(done){
+      var app = koa();
+
+      app.use(function *(){
+        this.status = 200;
+        this.type = 'application/javascript';
+      })
+
+      var server = app.listen();
+
+      request(server)
+      .head('/')
+      .expect('content-type', 'application/javascript')
+      .expect(200, done);
+    })
   })
 
   describe('when no middleware are present', function(){