diff --git a/docs/examples.rst b/docs/examples.rst
index d49350dd2..37014e4d6 100644
--- a/docs/examples.rst
+++ b/docs/examples.rst
@@ -125,6 +125,21 @@ To pass additional options to Kerberos auth use dict ``kerberos_options``, e.g.:
 
 .. _jirashell-label:
 
+Headers
+-------
+
+Headers can be provided to the internally used ``requests.Session``.
+If the user provides a header that the :py:class:`jira.client.JIRA` also attempts to set, the user provided header will take preference.
+
+Perhaps you want to use a custom User Agent::
+
+    from requests_toolbelt import user_agent
+
+    jira = JIRA(
+        basic_auth=("email", "API token"),
+        options={"headers": {"User-Agent": user_agent("my_package", "0.0.1")}},
+    )
+
 Issues
 ------
 
diff --git a/jira/client.py b/jira/client.py
index 6f281f2ac..400387084 100644
--- a/jira/client.py
+++ b/jira/client.py
@@ -353,6 +353,7 @@ def __init__(
                 * verify -- Verify SSL certs. Defaults to ``True``.
                 * client_cert -- a tuple of (cert,key) for the requests library for client side SSL
                 * check_update -- Check whether using the newest python-jira library version.
+                * headers -- a dict to update the default headers the session uses for all API requests.
 
             basic_auth (Union[None, Tuple[str, str]]): A tuple of username and password to use when
               establishing a session via HTTP BASIC authentication.
@@ -420,7 +421,14 @@ def __init__(
 
         self._options: Dict[str, Any] = copy.copy(JIRA.DEFAULT_OPTIONS)
 
+        if "headers" in options:
+            headers = copy.copy(options["headers"])
+            del options["headers"]
+        else:
+            headers = {}
+
         self._options.update(options)
+        self._options["headers"].update(headers)
 
         self._rank = None
 
diff --git a/tests/test_client.py b/tests/test_client.py
index a717d190b..ee37ab6fd 100644
--- a/tests/test_client.py
+++ b/tests/test_client.py
@@ -55,6 +55,16 @@ def remove_by_slug():
     return slug
 
 
+@pytest.fixture()
+def no_fields(monkeypatch):
+    """When we want to test the __init__ method of the jira.client.JIRA
+    we don't need any external calls to get the fields.
+
+    We don't need the features of a MagicMock, hence we don't use it here.
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setattr(jira.client.JIRA, "fields", lambda *args, **kwargs: [])
+
+
 def test_delete_project(cl_admin, cl_normal, slug):
 
     assert cl_admin.delete_project(slug)
@@ -119,3 +129,69 @@ def test_result_list_if_empty():
 
     with pytest.raises(StopIteration):
         next(results)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "options_arg",
+    [
+        {"headers": {"Content-Type": "application/json;charset=UTF-8"}},
+        {"headers": {"random-header": "nice random"}},
+    ],
+    ids=["overwrite", "new"],
+)
+def test_headers_unclobbered_update(options_arg, no_fields):
+
+    assert "headers" in options_arg, "test case options must contain headers"
+
+    # GIVEN: the headers and the expected value
+    header_to_check: str = list(options_arg["headers"].keys())[0]
+    expected_header_value: str = options_arg["headers"][header_to_check]
+
+    invariant_header_name: str = "X-Atlassian-Token"
+    invariant_header_value: str = jira.client.JIRA.DEFAULT_OPTIONS["headers"][
+        invariant_header_name
+    ]
+
+    # We arbitrarily chose a header to check it remains unchanged/unclobbered
+    # so should not be overwritten by a test case
+    assert (
+        invariant_header_name not in options_arg["headers"]
+    ), f"{invariant_header_name} is checked as not being overwritten in this test"
+
+    # WHEN: we initialise the JIRA class and get the headers
+    jira_client = jira.client.JIRA(
+        server="https://jira.atlasian.com",
+        get_server_info=False,
+        validate=False,
+        options=options_arg,
+    )
+
+    session_headers = jira_client._session.headers
+
+    # THEN: we have set the right headers and not affect the other headers' defaults
+    assert session_headers[header_to_check] == expected_header_value
+    assert session_headers[invariant_header_name] == invariant_header_value
+
+
+def test_headers_unclobbered_update_with_no_provided_headers(no_fields):
+
+    options_arg = {}  # a dict with "headers" not set
+
+    # GIVEN:the headers and the expected value
+    invariant_header_name: str = "X-Atlassian-Token"
+    invariant_header_value: str = jira.client.JIRA.DEFAULT_OPTIONS["headers"][
+        invariant_header_name
+    ]
+
+    # WHEN: we initialise the JIRA class with no provided headers and get the headers
+    jira_client = jira.client.JIRA(
+        server="https://jira.atlasian.com",
+        get_server_info=False,
+        validate=False,
+        options=options_arg,
+    )
+
+    session_headers = jira_client._session.headers
+
+    # THEN: we have not affected the other headers' defaults
+    assert session_headers[invariant_header_name] == invariant_header_value