diff --git a/falcon/response.py b/falcon/response.py
index 4812815..be45fe3 100644
--- a/falcon/response.py
+++ b/falcon/response.py
@@ -272,15 +272,14 @@ class Response(object):
             For setting cookies, see instead :meth:`~.set_cookie`
 
         Args:
-            name (str): Header name to set (case-insensitive). Must be of
-                type ``str`` or ``StringType``, and only character values 0x00
-                through 0xFF may be used on platforms that use wide
-                characters.
+            name (str): Header name (case-insensitive). The restrictions
+                noted below for the header's value also apply here.
             value (str): Value for the header. Must be of type ``str`` or
-                ``StringType``, and only character values 0x00 through 0xFF
-                may be used on platforms that use wide characters.
-
+                ``StringType`` and contain only ISO-8859-1 characters.
+                Under Python 2.x, the ``unicode`` type is also accepted,
+                although such strings are also limited to ISO-8859-1.
         """
+        name, value = self._encode_header(name, value)
 
         # NOTE(kgriffs): normalize name by lowercasing it
         self._headers[name.lower()] = value
@@ -297,15 +296,16 @@ class Response(object):
             For setting cookies, see :py:meth:`~.set_cookie`
 
         Args:
-            name (str): Header name to set (case-insensitive). Must be of
-                type ``str`` or ``StringType``, and only character values 0x00
-                through 0xFF may be used on platforms that use wide
-                characters.
+            name (str): Header name (case-insensitive). The restrictions
+                noted below for the header's value also apply here.
             value (str): Value for the header. Must be of type ``str`` or
-                ``StringType``, and only character values 0x00 through 0xFF
-                may be used on platforms that use wide characters.
+                ``StringType`` and contain only ISO-8859-1 characters.
+                Under Python 2.x, the ``unicode`` type is also accepted,
+                although such strings are also limited to ISO-8859-1.
 
         """
+        name, value = self._encode_header(name, value)
+
         name = name.lower()
         if name in self._headers:
             value = self._headers[name] + ',' + value
@@ -320,10 +320,11 @@ class Response(object):
 
         Args:
             headers (dict or list): A dictionary of header names and values
-                to set, or ``list`` of (*name*, *value*) tuples. Both *name*
-                and *value* must be of type ``str`` or ``StringType``, and
-                only character values 0x00 through 0xFF may be used on
-                platforms that use wide characters.
+                to set, or a ``list`` of (*name*, *value*) tuples. Both *name*
+                and *value* must be of type ``str`` or ``StringType`` and
+                contain only ISO-8859-1 characters. Under Python 2.x, the
+                ``unicode`` type is also accepted, although such strings are
+                also limited to ISO-8859-1.
 
                 Note:
                     Falcon can process a list of tuples slightly faster
@@ -341,6 +342,7 @@ class Response(object):
         # normalize the header names.
         _headers = self._headers
         for name, value in headers:
+            name, value = self._encode_header(name, value)
             _headers[name.lower()] = value
 
     def add_link(self, target, rel, title=None, title_star=None,
@@ -541,6 +543,16 @@ class Response(object):
         """,
         lambda v: ', '.join(v))
 
+    def _encode_header(self, name, value, py2=PY2):
+        if py2:  # pragma: no cover
+            if isinstance(name, unicode):
+                name = name.encode('ISO-8859-1')
+
+            if isinstance(value, unicode):
+                value = value.encode('ISO-8859-1')
+
+        return name, value
+
     def _wsgi_headers(self, media_type=None, py2=PY2):
         """Convert headers into the format expected by WSGI servers.
 
diff --git a/tests/test_headers.py b/tests/test_headers.py
index 783e59d..0863b98 100644
--- a/tests/test_headers.py
+++ b/tests/test_headers.py
@@ -117,6 +117,17 @@ class LocationHeaderUnicodeResource:
         resp.content_location = self.URL1
 
 
+class UnicodeHeaderResource:
+
+    def on_get(self, req, resp):
+        resp.set_headers([
+            (u'X-auTH-toKEN', 'toomanysecrets'),
+            ('Content-TYpE', u'application/json'),
+            (u'X-symBOl', u'\u0040'),
+            (u'X-symb\u00F6l', u'\u00FF'),
+        ])
+
+
 class VaryHeaderResource:
 
     def __init__(self, vary):
@@ -361,6 +372,22 @@ class TestHeaders(testing.TestBase):
         content_location = ('content-location', '/%C3%A7runchy/bacon')
         self.assertIn(content_location, self.srmock.headers)
 
+    def test_unicode_headers(self):
+        self.api.add_route(self.test_route, UnicodeHeaderResource())
+        self.simulate_request(self.test_route)
+
+        expect = ('x-auth-token', 'toomanysecrets')
+        self.assertIn(expect, self.srmock.headers)
+
+        expect = ('content-type', 'application/json')
+        self.assertIn(expect, self.srmock.headers)
+
+        expect = ('x-symbol', '@')
+        self.assertIn(expect, self.srmock.headers)
+
+        expect = ('x-symb\xF6l', '\xFF')
+        self.assertIn(expect, self.srmock.headers)
+
     def test_response_set_and_get_header(self):
         self.resource = HeaderHelpersResource()
         self.api.add_route(self.test_route, self.resource)