diff --git a/src/fallback.cpp b/src/fallback.cpp
index 654eafc09..3f2912551 100644
--- a/src/fallback.cpp
+++ b/src/fallback.cpp
@@ -394,18 +394,9 @@ int flock(int fd, int op) {
 // For platforms without wcstod_l C extension, wrap wcstod after changing the
 // thread-specific locale.
 double fish_compat::wcstod_l(const wchar_t *enptr, wchar_t **endptr, locale_t loc) {
-    // Create and use a new, thread-specific locale
-    // NOTE: We use "C" whatever the passed locale,
-    // and we use the LC_ALL category.
-    //
-    // Empirically, this fails on OpenIndiana/Illumos/Solaris/SunOS if using LC_NUMERIC.
-    // Since we reset it afterwards, it shouldn't matter.
-    locale_t locale = newlocale(LC_ALL, "C", nullptr);
-    locale_t prev_locale = uselocale(locale);
+    locale_t prev_locale = uselocale(loc);
     double ret = wcstod(enptr, endptr);
-    // Restore the old locale before freeing the locale we created and are still using
     uselocale(prev_locale);
-    freelocale(locale);
     return ret;
 }
 #endif // defined(wcstod_l)