diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 74be2aa..b399377 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Changelog
 
 ### master
+- bugfix: determine the default shell from the $SHELL env var on OS X
 
 ### v1.0.0, 2014-07-30
 - initial work on the plugin
diff --git a/sensible.tmux b/sensible.tmux
index 19846e7..0820457 100755
--- a/sensible.tmux
+++ b/sensible.tmux
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ main() {
 
 	# required (only) on OS X
 	if is_osx && option_value_not_changed "default-command" ""; then
-		tmux set-option -g default-command "reattach-to-user-namespace -l bash"
+		tmux set-option -g default-command "reattach-to-user-namespace -l $SHELL"
 	fi
 
 	# upgrade $TERM