diff --git a/apply.js b/apply.js
index d54497ee..f8e4b881 100644
--- a/apply.js
+++ b/apply.js
@@ -33,6 +33,17 @@ function requestStyles(options) {
 
 
 function applyOnMessage(request, sender, sendResponse) {
+  // Do-It-Yourself tells our built-in pages to fetch the styles directly
+  // which is faster because IPC messaging JSON-ifies everything internally
+  if (request.styles == 'DIY') {
+    getStylesSafe({
+      matchUrl: location.href,
+      enabled: true,
+      asHash: true,
+    }).then(styles =>
+      applyOnMessage(Object.assign(request, {styles})));
+    return;
+  }
   // Also handle special request just for the pop-up
   switch (request.method == 'updatePopup' ? request.reason : request.method) {
 
diff --git a/background.js b/background.js
index 988f1dec..117d29e3 100644
--- a/background.js
+++ b/background.js
@@ -1,27 +1,33 @@
 /* global getDatabase, getStyles, reportError */
 'use strict';
 
-// This happens right away, sometimes so fast that the content script isn't even ready. That's
-// why the content script also asks for this stuff.
+chrome.webNavigation.onBeforeNavigate.addListener(data => {
+  webNavigationListener(null, data);
+});
+
 chrome.webNavigation.onCommitted.addListener(data => {
   webNavigationListener('styleApply', data);
 });
+
 chrome.webNavigation.onHistoryStateUpdated.addListener(data => {
   webNavigationListener('styleReplaceAll', data);
 });
-chrome.webNavigation.onBeforeNavigate.addListener(data => {
-  webNavigationListener(null, data);
+
+chrome.webNavigation.onReferenceFragmentUpdated.addListener(data => {
+  webNavigationListener('styleReplaceAll', data);
 });
 
 
 function webNavigationListener(method, data) {
   getStyles({matchUrl: data.url, enabled: true, asHash: true}, styles => {
-    // we can't inject chrome:// and chrome-extension:// pages except our own
-    // that request the styles on their own, so we'll only update the icon
-    if (method && !data.url.startsWith('chrome')) {
+    // we can't inject chrome:// and chrome-extension:// pages
+    // so we'll only inform our page of the change
+    // and it'll retrieve the styles directly
+    if (method && !data.url.startsWith('chrome:')) {
+      const isOwnPage = data.url.startsWith(OWN_ORIGIN);
       chrome.tabs.sendMessage(
         data.tabId,
-        {method, styles},
+        {method, styles: isOwnPage ? 'DIY' : styles},
         {frameId: data.frameId});
     }
     // main page frame id is 0
@@ -31,32 +37,6 @@ function webNavigationListener(method, data) {
   });
 }
 
-// catch direct URL hash modifications not invoked via HTML5 history API
-const tabUrlHasHash = new Set();
-
-chrome.tabs.onUpdated.addListener((tabId, info, tab) => {
-  if (info.status != 'loading' || !info.url) {
-    return;
-  }
-  if (info.url.includes('#')) {
-    tabUrlHasHash.add(tabId);
-  } else if (tabUrlHasHash.has(tabId)) {
-    tabUrlHasHash.delete(tabId);
-  } else {
-    // do nothing since the tab neither had # before nor has # now
-    return;
-  }
-  webNavigationListener('styleReplaceAll', {
-    tabId: tabId,
-    frameId: 0,
-    url: info.url,
-  });
-});
-
-chrome.tabs.onRemoved.addListener(tabId => {
-  tabUrlHasHash.delete(tabId);
-});
-
 // messaging
 
 chrome.runtime.onMessage.addListener(onBackgroundMessage);
diff --git a/messaging.js b/messaging.js
index 40f9d113..09eaeabd 100644
--- a/messaging.js
+++ b/messaging.js
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ function refreshAllTabs() {
 function updateIcon(tab, styles) {
   // while NTP is still loading only process the request for its main frame with a real url
   // (but when it's loaded we should process style toggle requests from popups, for example)
-  if (tab.url == 'chrome://newtab/' && tab.status != 'complete') {
+  const isNTP = tab.url == 'chrome://newtab/';
+  if (isNTP && tab.status != 'complete') {
     return;
   }
   if (styles) {
@@ -72,16 +73,13 @@ function updateIcon(tab, styles) {
     });
     return;
   }
-  getTabRealURL(tab).then(url => {
-    // if we have access to this, call directly
-    // (Chrome no longer sends messages to the page itself)
-    const options = {method: 'getStyles', matchUrl: url, enabled: true, asHash: true};
-    if (typeof getStyles != 'undefined') {
-      getStyles(options, stylesReceived);
-    } else {
-      chrome.runtime.sendMessage(options, stylesReceived);
-    }
-  });
+  (isNTP ? getTabRealURL(tab) : Promise.resolve(tab.url))
+    .then(url => getStylesSafe({
+      matchUrl: url,
+      enabled: true,
+      asHash: true,
+    }))
+    .then(stylesReceived);
 
   function stylesReceived(styles) {
     let numStyles = styles.length;