diff --git a/src/st/st-theme.c b/src/st/st-theme.c
index 9867ee151..9ad99e2b1 100644
--- a/src/st/st-theme.c
+++ b/src/st/st-theme.c
@@ -244,6 +244,27 @@ insert_stylesheet (StTheme      *theme,
   g_hash_table_insert (theme->files_by_stylesheet, stylesheet, file);
 }
 
+static CRStyleSheet *
+resolve_stylesheet (StTheme  *theme,
+                    GFile    *file,
+                    GError  **error)
+{
+  CRStyleSheet *sheet;
+
+  sheet = g_hash_table_lookup (theme->stylesheets_by_file, file);
+  if (sheet)
+    {
+      cr_stylesheet_ref (sheet);
+      return sheet;
+    }
+
+  sheet = parse_stylesheet (file, error);
+  if (sheet)
+    insert_stylesheet (theme, file, sheet);
+
+  return sheet;
+}
+
 /**
  * st_theme_load_stylesheet:
  * @theme: a #StTheme
@@ -261,13 +282,12 @@ st_theme_load_stylesheet (StTheme    *theme,
 {
   CRStyleSheet *stylesheet;
 
-  stylesheet = parse_stylesheet (file, error);
+  stylesheet = resolve_stylesheet (theme, file, error);
   if (!stylesheet)
     return FALSE;
 
   stylesheet->app_data = GUINT_TO_POINTER (TRUE);
 
-  insert_stylesheet (theme, file, stylesheet);
   cr_stylesheet_ref (stylesheet);
   theme->custom_stylesheets = g_slist_prepend (theme->custom_stylesheets, stylesheet);
   g_signal_emit (theme, signals[STYLESHEETS_CHANGED], 0);
@@ -884,6 +904,7 @@ add_matched_properties (StTheme      *a_this,
 
             if (import_rule->sheet == NULL)
               {
+                CRStyleSheet *sheet = NULL;
                 GFile *file = NULL;
 
                 if (import_rule->url->stryng && import_rule->url->stryng->str)
@@ -891,13 +912,12 @@ add_matched_properties (StTheme      *a_this,
                     file = _st_theme_resolve_url (a_this,
                                                   a_nodesheet,
                                                   import_rule->url->stryng->str);
-                    import_rule->sheet = parse_stylesheet (file, NULL);
+                    sheet = resolve_stylesheet (a_this, file, NULL);
                   }
 
-                if (import_rule->sheet)
+                if (sheet)
                   {
-                    insert_stylesheet (a_this, file, import_rule->sheet);
-                    /* refcount of stylesheets starts off at zero, so we don't need to unref! */
+                    import_rule->sheet = sheet;
                   }
                 else
                   {