diff --git a/django_mailbox/models.py b/django_mailbox/models.py
index 650d523c..0508f363 100644
--- a/django_mailbox/models.py
+++ b/django_mailbox/models.py
@@ -385,9 +385,9 @@ def _process_message(self, message):
         # Fix to accept subject emojis in utf-8
         if 'subject' in message:
             msg.subject = (
-                utils.convert_header_to_unicode(unicode(message['subject']).decode('utf-8'))[0:255]
+                utils.convert_header_to_unicode(message['subject']).encode('raw-unicode-escape'))[0:255]
             )
-            msg.subject = repr(email.header.decode_header(msg.subject)[0][0]).replace("'", "")
+            msg.subject = unicode(email.header.decode_header(msg.subject)[0][0]), errors='ignore')
         if 'message-id' in message:
             msg.message_id = message['message-id'][0:255].strip()
         if 'from' in message: