diff --git a/lib/_http_server.js b/lib/_http_server.js
index b2cce201009c52..d55ee98ec2d4a8 100644
--- a/lib/_http_server.js
+++ b/lib/_http_server.js
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ function storeHTTPOptions(options) {
     validateBoolean(rejectNonStandardBodyWrites, 'options.rejectNonStandardBodyWrites');
     this.rejectNonStandardBodyWrites = rejectNonStandardBodyWrites;
   } else {
-    this.rejectNonStandardBodyWrites = true
+    this.rejectNonStandardBodyWrites = false
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-head-throw-on-response-body-write.js b/test/parallel/test-http-head-throw-on-response-body-write.js
index 6c3c3cf9f52e50..7352b20d84df6e 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-http-head-throw-on-response-body-write.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-head-throw-on-response-body-write.js
@@ -24,17 +24,10 @@ const common = require('../common');
 const assert = require('assert');
 const http = require('http');
 
-// should be using common.mustCall on both req res callbacks provided to createServer
 {
   const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
-    assert.throws(() => {
-      res.write('this is content');
-    }, {
-      code: 'ERR_HTTP_BODY_NOT_ALLOWED',
-      name: 'Error',
-      message: 'Adding content for this request method or response status is not allowed.'
-    });
-    res.end();
+    res.writeHead(200);
+    res.end('this is content');
   });
   server.listen(0);