diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index bee995a..9577212 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ module.exports = class CachePolicy {
         // When the Cache-Control header field is not present in a request, caches MUST consider the no-cache request pragma-directive
         // as having the same effect as if "Cache-Control: no-cache" were present (see Section 5.2.1).
         if (
-            !res.headers['cache-control'] &&
+            res.headers['cache-control'] == null &&
             /no-cache/.test(res.headers.pragma)
         ) {
             this._rescc['no-cache'] = true;
diff --git a/test/responsetest.js b/test/responsetest.js
index a3a98d9..c0d48b3 100644
--- a/test/responsetest.js
+++ b/test/responsetest.js
@@ -278,6 +278,17 @@ describe('Response headers', function() {
         assert(cache.stale());
     });
 
+    it('blank cache-control and pragma: no-cache', function() {
+        const cache = new CachePolicy(req, {
+            headers: {
+                'cache-control': '',
+                pragma: 'no-cache',
+                'last-modified': new Date().toGMTString(),
+            },
+        });
+        assert(!cache.stale());
+    });
+
     it('no-store', function() {
         const cache = new CachePolicy(req, {
             headers: {