diff --git a/js/angular/controller/headerBarController.js b/js/angular/controller/headerBarController.js
index b4221fd578..5943543334 100644
--- a/js/angular/controller/headerBarController.js
+++ b/js/angular/controller/headerBarController.js
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ function($scope, $element, $attrs, $q, $ionicConfig, $ionicHistory) {
   var titleRight = 0;
   var titleCss = '';
   var isBackEnabled = false;
-  var isBackShown = false;
+  var isBackShown = true;
   var titleTextWidth = 0;
 
 
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ function($scope, $element, $attrs, $q, $ionicConfig, $ionicHistory) {
     // to the navigation and history
     if (arguments.length && shouldEnable !== isBackEnabled) {
       var backBtnEle = getEle(BACK_BUTTON);
-      backBtnEle && backBtnEle.classList[ shouldEnable ? 'remove' : 'add' ](HIDE);
+      backBtnEle && backBtnEle.classList[ shouldEnable ? 'remove' : 'add' ]('back-disabled');
       isBackEnabled = shouldEnable;
     }
     return isBackEnabled;
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ function($scope, $element, $attrs, $q, $ionicConfig, $ionicHistory) {
     // visually hidden if false, even if the history says it should show
     if (arguments.length && shouldShow !== isBackShown) {
       var backBtnEle = getEle(BACK_BUTTON);
-      if (backBtnEle) backBtnEle.style.display = (shouldShow ? '' : 'none');
+      backBtnEle && backBtnEle.classList[ shouldShow ? 'remove' : 'add' ](HIDE);
       isBackShown = shouldShow;
     }
     return isBackShown;
@@ -122,7 +122,6 @@ function($scope, $element, $attrs, $q, $ionicConfig, $ionicHistory) {
         defaultTitleEle.classList.remove(HIDE);
       }
     }
-    self.showBack(true);
   };
 
 
diff --git a/js/angular/controller/navBarController.js b/js/angular/controller/navBarController.js
index 12b5670ef2..d14365d8ac 100644
--- a/js/angular/controller/navBarController.js
+++ b/js/angular/controller/navBarController.js
@@ -69,6 +69,11 @@ function($scope, $element, $attrs, $compile, $timeout, $ionicNavBarDelegate, $io
       positionButtons(navEle[buttonType], buttonType);
     });
 
+    // add header-item to the root children
+    for (var x = 0; x < headerBarEle[0].children.length; x++) {
+      headerBarEle[0].children[x].classList.add('header-item');
+    }
+
     // compile header and append to the DOM
     containerEle.append(headerBarEle);
     $element.append($compile(containerEle)($scope.$new()));
diff --git a/js/angular/directive/navBackButton.js b/js/angular/directive/navBackButton.js
index 2edb95245f..328318fb81 100644
--- a/js/angular/directive/navBackButton.js
+++ b/js/angular/directive/navBackButton.js
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ IonicModule
         buttonEle.setAttribute('ng-click', '$ionicGoBack($event)');
       }
 
-      buttonEle.className = 'button back-button hide buttons ' + (tElement.attr('class') || '');
+      buttonEle.className = 'button back-button back-disabled buttons ' + (tElement.attr('class') || '');
       buttonEle.innerHTML = tElement.html() || '';
 
       var childNode;
diff --git a/scss/_bar.scss b/scss/_bar.scss
index f147b26e9e..3320b3a190 100644
--- a/scss/_bar.scss
+++ b/scss/_bar.scss
@@ -361,6 +361,7 @@
   z-index: $z-index-bar;
 }
 
+.bar .back-button.back-disabled,
 .bar .back-button.hide,
 .bar .buttons .hide {
   display: none;
diff --git a/scss/_transitions.scss b/scss/_transitions.scss
index 63a80f2cec..fb129040aa 100644
--- a/scss/_transitions.scss
+++ b/scss/_transitions.scss
@@ -62,6 +62,10 @@ $ios-transition-container-bg-color:    #000 !default;
 
   [nav-bar="cached"] {
     display: block;
+
+    .header-item {
+      display: none;
+    }
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/angular/directive/navBackButton.unit.js b/test/unit/angular/directive/navBackButton.unit.js
index 5a8e9804b5..2c73686753 100644
--- a/test/unit/angular/directive/navBackButton.unit.js
+++ b/test/unit/angular/directive/navBackButton.unit.js
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ describe('ionNavBackButton directive', function() {
     expect( outputEle[0].tagName ).toBe('BUTTON');
     expect( outputEle.hasClass('button') ).toBe(true);
     expect( outputEle.hasClass('back-button') ).toBe(true);
-    expect( outputEle.hasClass('hide') ).toBe(true);
+    expect( outputEle.hasClass('back-disabled') ).toBe(true);
     expect( outputEle.hasClass('buttons') ).toBe(true);
   }));