diff --git a/libc/bionic/locale.cpp b/libc/bionic/locale.cpp
index 4fade84..5ab834d 100644
--- a/libc/bionic/locale.cpp
+++ b/libc/bionic/locale.cpp
@@ -39,8 +39,11 @@
 static pthread_once_t gLocaleOnce = PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT;
 static lconv gLocale;
 
-static pthread_once_t gUselocaleKeyOnce = PTHREAD_ONCE_INIT;
+// We don't use pthread_once for this so that we know when the resource (a TLS slot) will be taken.
 static pthread_key_t gUselocaleKey;
+__attribute__((constructor)) static void __bionic_tls_uselocale_key_init() {
+  pthread_key_create(&gUselocaleKey, NULL);
+}
 
 static void __locale_init() {
   gLocale.decimal_point = const_cast<char*>(".");
@@ -72,10 +75,6 @@
   gLocale.int_n_sign_posn = CHAR_MAX;
 }
 
-static void __uselocale_key_init() {
-  pthread_key_create(&gUselocaleKey, NULL);
-}
-
 static bool __is_supported_locale(const char* locale) {
   return (strcmp(locale, "") == 0 || strcmp(locale, "C") == 0 || strcmp(locale, "POSIX") == 0);
 }
@@ -139,8 +138,6 @@
 }
 
 locale_t uselocale(locale_t new_locale) {
-  pthread_once(&gUselocaleKeyOnce, __uselocale_key_init);
-
   locale_t old_locale = static_cast<locale_t>(pthread_getspecific(gUselocaleKey));
 
   // If this is the first call to uselocale(3) on this thread, we return LC_GLOBAL_LOCALE.