diff --git a/src/reflect/value.go b/src/reflect/value.go
index 15a900f9e1..06e9ccadce 100644
--- a/src/reflect/value.go
+++ b/src/reflect/value.go
@@ -1493,7 +1493,11 @@ func MakeSlice(typ Type, len, cap int) Value {
 	var slice sliceHeader
 	slice.cap = uintptr(ucap)
 	slice.len = uintptr(ulen)
-	slice.data = alloc(size, nil)
+	var layout unsafe.Pointer
+	if elementSize == 1 {
+		layout = unsafe.Pointer(uintptr(0x3))
+	}
+	slice.data = alloc(size, layout)
 
 	return Value{
 		typecode: rtype,
diff --git a/src/runtime/slice.go b/src/runtime/slice.go
index 7d804b11be..05d23e7198 100644
--- a/src/runtime/slice.go
+++ b/src/runtime/slice.go
@@ -47,7 +47,13 @@ func sliceGrow(oldBuf unsafe.Pointer, oldLen, oldCap, newCap, elemSize uintptr)
 	// memory allocators, this causes some difficult to debug issues.
 	newCap = 1 << bits.Len(uint(newCap))
 
-	buf := alloc(newCap*elemSize, nil)
+	var layout unsafe.Pointer
+	if elemSize == 1 {
+		// []byte
+		layout = gcLayoutNoPtrs
+	}
+
+	buf := alloc(newCap*elemSize, layout)
 	if oldLen > 0 {
 		// copy any data to new slice
 		memmove(buf, oldBuf, oldLen*elemSize)
diff --git a/src/runtime/string.go b/src/runtime/string.go
index aeefe1d4fa..bab19595d2 100644
--- a/src/runtime/string.go
+++ b/src/runtime/string.go
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ func stringEqual(x, y string) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
+var (
+	// Constants for use with alloc()
+	gcLayoutNoPtrs = unsafe.Pointer(uintptr(0x3))
+)
+
 // Return true iff x < y.
 //
 //go:nobounds
@@ -59,7 +64,7 @@ func stringConcat(x, y _string) _string {
 		return x
 	} else {
 		length := x.length + y.length
-		buf := alloc(length, nil)
+		buf := alloc(length, gcLayoutNoPtrs)
 		memcpy(buf, unsafe.Pointer(x.ptr), x.length)
 		memcpy(unsafe.Add(buf, x.length), unsafe.Pointer(y.ptr), y.length)
 		return _string{ptr: (*byte)(buf), length: length}
@@ -72,7 +77,7 @@ func stringFromBytes(x struct {
 	len uintptr
 	cap uintptr
 }) _string {
-	buf := alloc(x.len, nil)
+	buf := alloc(x.len, gcLayoutNoPtrs)
 	memcpy(buf, unsafe.Pointer(x.ptr), x.len)
 	return _string{ptr: (*byte)(buf), length: x.len}
 }
@@ -83,7 +88,7 @@ func stringToBytes(x _string) (slice struct {
 	len uintptr
 	cap uintptr
 }) {
-	buf := alloc(x.length, nil)
+	buf := alloc(x.length, gcLayoutNoPtrs)
 	memcpy(buf, unsafe.Pointer(x.ptr), x.length)
 	slice.ptr = (*byte)(buf)
 	slice.len = x.length
@@ -100,7 +105,7 @@ func stringFromRunes(runeSlice []rune) (s _string) {
 	}
 
 	// Allocate memory for the string.
-	s.ptr = (*byte)(alloc(s.length, nil))
+	s.ptr = (*byte)(alloc(s.length, gcLayoutNoPtrs))
 
 	// Encode runes to UTF-8 and store the resulting bytes in the string.
 	index := uintptr(0)