diff --git a/components/layout/fragment.rs b/components/layout/fragment.rs
index bb761603f2f..50ecb69e025 100644
--- a/components/layout/fragment.rs
+++ b/components/layout/fragment.rs
@@ -2344,7 +2344,10 @@ impl Fragment {
                         modified = true;
                         continue
                     }
-                    new_text_string.push_str(&unscanned_text_fragment_info.text[i..]);
+                    // Finished processing leading control chars and whitespace.
+                    if modified {
+                        new_text_string.push_str(&unscanned_text_fragment_info.text[i..]);
+                    }
                     break
                 }
                 if modified {