diff --git a/lib/git.zsh b/lib/git.zsh
index 96598cf5f..cd1bff034 100644
--- a/lib/git.zsh
+++ b/lib/git.zsh
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ function git_prompt_info() {
   echo "$ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_PREFIX${ref#refs/heads/}$(parse_git_dirty)$ZSH_THEME_GIT_PROMPT_SUFFIX"
 }
 
+# returns root of current repo
+function git_get_root() {
+  echo "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2> /dev/null)"
+}
 
 # Checks if working tree is dirty
 parse_git_dirty() {
diff --git a/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh b/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
index 0ed2565b4..b4f8405db 100644
--- a/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
+++ b/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
@@ -7,33 +7,38 @@ if [[ -f "$wrapsource" ]]; then
     # Automatically activate Git projects' virtual environments based on the
     # directory name of the project. Virtual environment name can be overridden
     # by placing a .venv file in the project root with a virtualenv name in it
-    function workon_cwd {
+    function _workon_cwd {
         # Check that this is a Git repo
-        PROJECT_ROOT=`git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2> /dev/null`
-        if (( $? == 0 )); then
+        local repo_root=`git_get_root`
+        if [[ -n "$repo_root" ]]; then
             # Check for virtualenv name override
-            ENV_NAME=`basename "$PROJECT_ROOT"`
-            if [[ -f "$PROJECT_ROOT/.venv" ]]; then
-                ENV_NAME=`cat "$PROJECT_ROOT/.venv"`
+            local env_name=`basename "$repo_root"`
+            if [[ -f "$repo_root/.venv" ]]; then
+                env_name=`cat "$repo_root/.venv"`
             fi
             # Activate the environment only if it is not already active
-            if [[ "$VIRTUAL_ENV" != "$WORKON_HOME/$ENV_NAME" ]]; then
-                if [[ -e "$WORKON_HOME/$ENV_NAME/bin/activate" ]]; then
-                    workon "$ENV_NAME" && export CD_VIRTUAL_ENV="$ENV_NAME"
+            if [[ "$VIRTUAL_ENV" != "$WORKON_HOME/$env_name" ]]; then
+                if [[ -e "$WORKON_HOME/$env_name/bin/activate" ]]; then
+                    workon "$env_name" && export CD_VIRTUAL_ENV="$env_name"
+                else
+                  _deactivate
                 fi
             fi
-        elif [ $CD_VIRTUAL_ENV ]; then
+          else
             # We've just left the repo, deactivate the environment
             # Note: this only happens if the virtualenv was activated automatically
-            deactivate && unset CD_VIRTUAL_ENV
+            _deactivate
         fi
-        unset PROJECT_ROOT
     }
 
-    # New cd function that does the virtualenv magic
-    function cd {
-        builtin cd "$@" && workon_cwd
+    function _deactivate() {
+      if [[ -n $CD_VIRTUAL_ENV ]]; then
+        deactivate && unset CD_VIRTUAL_ENV
+      fi
     }
+
+    # Add hook to chpwd function
+    add-zsh-hook chpwd _workon_cwd
   fi
 else
   print "zsh virtualenvwrapper plugin: Cannot find virtualenvwrapper_lazy.sh. Please install with \`pip install virtualenvwrapper\`."