diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 2ddf410c..9fe1998c 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ license = "MIT"
 authors = ["Sean McArthur <sean.monstar@gmail.com>"]
 keywords = ["http", "hyper", "hyperium"]
 categories = ["web-programming::http-client", "web-programming::http-server"]
+build = "build.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
 base64 = "0.3.0"
@@ -32,6 +33,9 @@ num_cpus = "1.0"
 pretty_env_logger = "0.1"
 spmc = "0.2"
 
+[build-dependencies]
+rustc_version = "0.1"
+
 [features]
 default = []
 nightly = []
diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e886b726
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+extern crate rustc_version as rustc;
+
+fn main() {
+    if rustc::version_matches(">= 1.9") {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=has_deprecated");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/header/mod.rs b/src/header/mod.rs
index c5d73266..2d478ac5 100644
--- a/src/header/mod.rs
+++ b/src/header/mod.rs
@@ -598,23 +598,30 @@ impl<'a> FromIterator<HeaderView<'a>> for Headers {
     }
 }
 
-impl<'a> fmt::Display for &'a (Header + Send + Sync) {
-    #[inline]
-    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
-        let mut multi = MultilineFormatter(Multi::Join(true, f));
-        self.fmt_multi_header(&mut multi)
+deprecated! {
+    #[deprecated(note="The semantics of formatting a HeaderFormat directly are not clear")]
+    impl<'a> fmt::Display for &'a (Header + Send + Sync) {
+        #[inline]
+        fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
+            let mut multi = MultilineFormatter(Multi::Join(true, f));
+            self.fmt_multi_header(&mut multi)
+        }
     }
 }
 
-/// A wrapper around any Header with a Display impl that calls `fmt_header`.
-///
-/// This can be used like so: `format!("{}", HeaderFormatter(&header))` to
-/// get the 'value string' representation of this Header.
-///
-/// Note: This may not necessarily be the value written to stream, such
-/// as with the SetCookie header.
-pub struct HeaderFormatter<'a, H: Header>(pub &'a H);
+deprecated! {
+    #[deprecated(note="The semantics of formatting a HeaderFormat directly are not clear")]
+    /// A wrapper around any Header with a Display impl that calls `fmt_header`.
+    ///
+    /// This can be used like so: `format!("{}", HeaderFormatter(&header))` to
+    /// get the 'value string' representation of this Header.
+    ///
+    /// Note: This may not necessarily be the value written to stream, such
+    /// as with the SetCookie header.
+    pub struct HeaderFormatter<'a, H: Header>(pub &'a H);
+}
 
+#[allow(deprecated)]
 impl<'a, H: Header> fmt::Display for HeaderFormatter<'a, H> {
     #[inline]
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
@@ -623,6 +630,7 @@ impl<'a, H: Header> fmt::Display for HeaderFormatter<'a, H> {
     }
 }
 
+#[allow(deprecated)]
 impl<'a, H: Header> fmt::Debug for HeaderFormatter<'a, H> {
     #[inline]
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 05e5b191..1a4acaf7 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -55,6 +55,13 @@ macro_rules! unimplemented {
     });
 }
 
+macro_rules! deprecated {
+    (#[$note:meta] $i:item) => (
+        #[cfg_attr(has_deprecated, $note)]
+        $i
+    );
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod mock;
 pub mod client;