diff --git a/src/nex/template.rs b/src/nex/template.rs
index 16c8f38..7a2bd7b 100644
--- a/src/nex/template.rs
+++ b/src/nex/template.rs
@@ -111,9 +111,9 @@ fn format_line(b: &mut String, l: &str, f: &Format) {
     } else if l.starts_with('_') && l.ends_with('_') {
         b.push_str(l.trim_matches('_').trim())
     } else if l.starts_with('#') && !matches!(f, Format::Gemtext) {
-        b.push_str(l.trim_matches('#').trim())
+        b.push_str(l.trim_start_matches('#').trim())
     } else if l.starts_with('>') && !matches!(f, Format::Gemtext) {
-        b.push_str(l.trim_matches('>').trim())
+        b.push_str(l.trim_start_matches('>').trim())
     } else if (l.starts_with("http://")
         || l.starts_with("https://")
         || l.starts_with("nex://")