diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index df5c790..c5a15db 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ For the times you need more than just a [gun](http://github.com/extend/gun).
 After using the [gun](http://github.com/extend/gun) library on a project where
 we needed to consume Server-sent Events (SSE) we found that it provided great
 flexibility, at the cost of having to handle each raw message and data,
-including the construction of the reponse body data.
+including the construction of the response body data.
 Although this is great for a lot of scenarios, it can get cumbersome and
 repetitive after implementing it a couple of times. This is why we ended up
 creating **shotgun**, an HTTP client that uses **gun** behind the curtains but
@@ -66,8 +66,9 @@ Which results in:
 Immediately after opening a connection we did a GET request, where we didn't
 specify any headers or options. Every HTTP method has its own **shotgun**
 function that takes a connection, a uri (which needs to include the slash),
-a headers map and an options map. Some of the functions (`post/5`, `put/5`
-and `patch/5`) also take a body argument.
+a headers map or a proplist containing the headers, and an options map. 
+Some of the functions (`post/5`, `put/5` and `patch/5`) also take a body 
+argument.
 
 Alternatively there's a generic `request/6` function in which the user can
 specify the HTTP method as an argument in the form of an atom: `get`, `head`,
@@ -91,7 +92,9 @@ as easy as specifying a `basic_auth` entry in the headers map:
 
 ```erlang
 {ok, Conn} = shotgun:open("site.com", 80),
-{ok, Response} = shotgun:get(Conn, "/user", #{basic_auth => {"user", "password"}),
+{ok, Response} = shotgun:get(Conn, "/user", #{basic_auth => {"user", "password"}}),
+, or
+{ok, Response} = shotgun:get(Conn, "/user", [{basic_auth, {"user", "password"}}]),
 shotgun:close(Conn).
 ```
 
diff --git a/src/shotgun.erl b/src/shotgun.erl
index 0fa9df3..c7b3e93 100644
--- a/src/shotgun.erl
+++ b/src/shotgun.erl
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
 -type connection() :: pid().
 -type http_verb()  :: get | post | head | delete | patch | put | options.
 -type uri()        :: iodata().
--type headers()    :: #{}.
+-type headers()    :: #{} | proplists:proplist().
 -type body()       :: iodata() | body_chunked.
 -type options()    ::
         #{ async => boolean()
@@ -627,9 +627,9 @@ manage_chunk(IsFin, StreamRef, Data,
     NewState.
 
 %% @private
--spec process_options(map(), map(), http_verb()) -> map().
-process_options(Options, HeadersMap, HttpVerb) ->
-    Headers = basic_auth_header(HeadersMap),
+-spec process_options(map(), headers(), http_verb()) -> map().
+process_options(Options, Headers0, HttpVerb) ->
+    Headers = basic_auth_header(Headers0),
     HandleEvent = maps:get(handle_event, Options, undefined),
     Async = maps:get(async, Options, false),
     AsyncMode = maps:get(async_mode, Options, binary),
@@ -647,14 +647,15 @@ process_options(Options, HeadersMap, HttpVerb) ->
      }.
 
 %% @private
--spec basic_auth_header(map()) -> list().
+-spec basic_auth_header(headers()) -> proplists:proplist().
+basic_auth_header(Headers) when is_map(Headers) ->
+    basic_auth_header(maps:to_list(Headers));
 basic_auth_header(Headers) ->
-    case maps:get(basic_auth, Headers, undefined) of
-        undefined ->
-            maps:to_list(Headers);
-        {User, Password} ->
-            HeadersClean = maps:remove(basic_auth, Headers),
-            HeadersList = maps:to_list(HeadersClean),
+    case lists:keyfind(basic_auth, 1, Headers) of
+        false ->
+            Headers;
+        {_, {User, Password}} = Res ->
+            HeadersList = lists:delete(Res, Headers),
             Base64 = encode_basic_auth(User, Password),
             BasicAuth = {<<"Authorization">>, <<"Basic ", Base64/binary>>},
             [BasicAuth | HeadersList]
diff --git a/test/shotgun_SUITE.erl b/test/shotgun_SUITE.erl
index 328d005..4eef7d4 100644
--- a/test/shotgun_SUITE.erl
+++ b/test/shotgun_SUITE.erl
@@ -84,6 +84,11 @@ basic_auth(Config) ->
   {ok, Response2} = shotgun:get(Conn, "/basic-auth", Headers),
   #{status_code := 200} = Response2,
 
+  %% try the same request using proplists
+  {ok, Response3} = shotgun:get(Conn, "/basic-auth",
+                                [{basic_auth, {"user", "pass"}}]),
+  #{status_code := 200} = Response3,
+
   {comment, ""}.
 
 -spec get(shotgun_test_utils:config()) -> {comment, string()}.