diff --git a/system/helpers/string_helper.php b/system/helpers/string_helper.php
index 3f7f09a..dbfa0c4 100644
--- a/system/helpers/string_helper.php
+++ b/system/helpers/string_helper.php
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@
 {
 	function reduce_double_slashes($str)
 	{
-		return preg_replace("#([^:])//+#", "\\1/", $str);
+		return preg_replace("#(^|[^:])//+#", "\\1/", $str);
 	}
 }
 	
diff --git a/user_guide/changelog.html b/user_guide/changelog.html
index 3ff05bb..2b3a71e 100644
--- a/user_guide/changelog.html
+++ b/user_guide/changelog.html
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@
 	<li>Fixed a bug in xss_clean() that was not allowing hyphens in query strings of submitted URLs.</li>
 	<li>Fixed bugs in get_dir_file_info() and get_file_info() in the File Helper with recursion, and file paths on Windows.</li>
 	<li>Fixed a bug where Active Record override parameter would not let you disable Active Record if it was enabled in your database config file.</li>
+	<li>Fixed a bug in reduce_double_slashes() in the String Helper to properly remove duplicate leading slashes (#7585)</li>
 </ul>
 
 <h2>Version 1.7.2</h2>