diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index cd78a12..b055eee 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -115,6 +115,10 @@ install_nvm_as_script() {
 # Otherwise, an empty string is returned
 #
 nvm_detect_profile() {
+  if [ -n "$PROFILE" -a -f "$PROFILE" ]; then
+    echo "$PROFILE"
+    return
+  fi
 
   local DETECTED_PROFILE
   DETECTED_PROFILE=''
@@ -132,9 +136,7 @@ nvm_detect_profile() {
   fi
 
   if [ -z "$DETECTED_PROFILE" ]; then
-    if [ -f "$PROFILE" ]; then
-      DETECTED_PROFILE="$PROFILE"
-    elif [ -f "$HOME/.profile" ]; then
+    if [ -f "$HOME/.profile" ]; then
       DETECTED_PROFILE="$HOME/.profile"
     elif [ -f "$HOME/.bashrc" ]; then
       DETECTED_PROFILE="$HOME/.bashrc"
diff --git a/test/install_script/nvm_detect_profile b/test/install_script/nvm_detect_profile
index da185e3..4ec8e43 100755
--- a/test/install_script/nvm_detect_profile
+++ b/test/install_script/nvm_detect_profile
@@ -31,6 +31,15 @@ _PROFILE=$(nvm_detect_profile)
                                          echo "_\$_PROFILE: _$_PROFILE" &&
                                          die "nvm_detect_profile didn't pick $SHELL and $HOME/.bashrc" )
 
+# But $PROFILE should override
+PROFILE=test_profile
+_PROFILE=$(nvm_detect_profile)
+[ "_$_PROFILE" = "_$PROFILE" ] || ( echo "_\$_PROFILE: _$_PROFILE" &&
+                                    echo "_\$PROFILE: _$PROFILE" &&
+                                    die "nvm_detect_profile didn't pick \$PROFILE" )
+unset PROFILE
+
+
 #Let's force $SHELL to be zsh
 SHELL="/usr/bin/zsh"
 
@@ -40,6 +49,14 @@ _PROFILE=$(nvm_detect_profile)
                                         echo "_\$_PROFILE: _$_PROFILE" &&
                                         die "nvm_detect_profile didn't pick $SHELL and $HOME/.zshrc" )
 
+# But $PROFILE should override
+PROFILE=test_profile
+_PROFILE=$(nvm_detect_profile)
+[ "_$_PROFILE" = "_$PROFILE" ] || ( echo "_\$_PROFILE: _$_PROFILE" &&
+                                    echo "_\$PROFILE: _$PROFILE" &&
+                                    die "nvm_detect_profile didn't pick \$PROFILE" )
+unset PROFILE
+
 # if we unset shell it looks for the files
 unset SHELL