diff --git a/History.md b/History.md
index 9aa6b0acc0..764974d078 100644
--- a/History.md
+++ b/History.md
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ unreleased
     - deps: ipaddr.js@1.1.1
   * deps: vary@~1.1.0
     - Only accept valid field names in the `field` argument
+  * perf: use strict equality when possible
 
 4.13.4 / 2016-01-21
 ===================
diff --git a/lib/request.js b/lib/request.js
index 33cac180ed..4fdc279ebc 100644
--- a/lib/request.js
+++ b/lib/request.js
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ defineGetter(req, 'protocol', function protocol(){
 /**
  * Short-hand for:
  *
- *    req.protocol == 'https'
+ *    req.protocol === 'https'
  *
  * @return {Boolean}
  * @public
@@ -437,10 +437,10 @@ defineGetter(req, 'fresh', function(){
   var s = this.res.statusCode;
 
   // GET or HEAD for weak freshness validation only
-  if ('GET' != method && 'HEAD' != method) return false;
+  if ('GET' !== method && 'HEAD' !== method) return false;
 
   // 2xx or 304 as per rfc2616 14.26
-  if ((s >= 200 && s < 300) || 304 == s) {
+  if ((s >= 200 && s < 300) || 304 === s) {
     return fresh(this.headers, (this.res._headers || {}));
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/response.js b/lib/response.js
index e813c52ec1..b93459cff5 100644
--- a/lib/response.js
+++ b/lib/response.js
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ res.send = function send(body) {
   if (req.fresh) this.statusCode = 304;
 
   // strip irrelevant headers
-  if (204 == this.statusCode || 304 == this.statusCode) {
+  if (204 === this.statusCode || 304 === this.statusCode) {
     this.removeHeader('Content-Type');
     this.removeHeader('Content-Length');
     this.removeHeader('Transfer-Encoding');
diff --git a/lib/router/index.js b/lib/router/index.js
index 504ed9ce0e..dac2514815 100644
--- a/lib/router/index.js
+++ b/lib/router/index.js
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ proto.param = function param(name, fn) {
 
   // ensure we end up with a
   // middleware function
-  if ('function' != typeof fn) {
+  if ('function' !== typeof fn) {
     throw new Error('invalid param() call for ' + name + ', got ' + fn);
   }
 
diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
index 3d54247ad2..465b31f536 100644
--- a/lib/utils.js
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -66,9 +66,9 @@ exports.wetag = function wetag(body, encoding){
  */
 
 exports.isAbsolute = function(path){
-  if ('/' == path[0]) return true;
-  if (':' == path[1] && '\\' == path[2]) return true;
-  if ('\\\\' == path.substring(0, 2)) return true; // Microsoft Azure absolute path
+  if ('/' === path[0]) return true;
+  if (':' === path[1] && '\\' === path[2]) return true;
+  if ('\\\\' === path.substring(0, 2)) return true; // Microsoft Azure absolute path
 };
 
 /**
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ function acceptParams(str, index) {
 
   for (var i = 1; i < parts.length; ++i) {
     var pms = parts[i].split(/ *= */);
-    if ('q' == pms[0]) {
+    if ('q' === pms[0]) {
       ret.quality = parseFloat(pms[1]);
     } else {
       ret.params[pms[0]] = pms[1];