diff --git a/reactor-netty-http/src/main/java/reactor/netty/http/server/DefaultHttpForwardedHeaderHandler.java b/reactor-netty-http/src/main/java/reactor/netty/http/server/DefaultHttpForwardedHeaderHandler.java
index 259e7a980..3ba3d1fcd 100644
--- a/reactor-netty-http/src/main/java/reactor/netty/http/server/DefaultHttpForwardedHeaderHandler.java
+++ b/reactor-netty-http/src/main/java/reactor/netty/http/server/DefaultHttpForwardedHeaderHandler.java
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ private static String parseForwardedPrefix(String prefixHeader) {
 			prefix.append((endIndex != rawPrefix.length() ? rawPrefix.substring(0, endIndex) : rawPrefix));
 		}
 		String parsedPrefix = prefix.toString();
-		if (!parsedPrefix.isEmpty() && DEFAULT_FORWARDED_HEADER_VALIDATION && !parsedPrefix.startsWith("/")) {
+		if (!parsedPrefix.isEmpty() && DEFAULT_FORWARDED_HEADER_VALIDATION && parsedPrefix.charAt(0) != '/') {
 			throw new IllegalArgumentException("X-Forwarded-Prefix did not start with a slash (\"/\"): " + prefixHeader);
 		}
 		return parsedPrefix;