diff --git a/gtk/gtkcssnode.c b/gtk/gtkcssnode.c
index 1106bdbe7a..aac0bb3d9d 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkcssnode.c
+++ b/gtk/gtkcssnode.c
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 #include "gtkcssanimatedstyleprivate.h"
 #include "gtkcsssectionprivate.h"
 #include "gtkcssstylepropertyprivate.h"
-#include "gtkdebug.h"
 #include "gtkintl.h"
 #include "gtkmarshalers.h"
 #include "gtksettingsprivate.h"
@@ -1372,23 +1371,6 @@ gtk_css_node_validate_internal (GtkCssNode *cssnode,
 {
   GtkCssNode *child;
 
-  /* If you run your application with
-   *   GTK_DEBUG=no-css-cache
-   * every invalidation will purge the cache and completely query
-   * everything anew form the cache. This is slow (in particular
-   * when animating), but useful for figuring out bugs.
-   *
-   * We achieve that by pretending that everything that could have
-   * changed has and so we of course totally need to redo everything.
-   *
-   * Note that this also completely revalidates child widgets all
-   * the time.
-   */
-#ifdef G_ENABLE_DEBUG
-  if (GTK_DEBUG_CHECK (NO_CSS_CACHE))
-    cssnode->pending_changes |= GTK_CSS_CHANGE_ANY;
-#endif
-
   if (!cssnode->invalid)
     return;
 
diff --git a/gtk/gtkcssnodestylecache.c b/gtk/gtkcssnodestylecache.c
index 8c250bcac6..b07776d666 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkcssnodestylecache.c
+++ b/gtk/gtkcssnodestylecache.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 #include "gtkcssnodestylecacheprivate.h"
 
+#include "gtkdebug.h"
 #include "gtkcssstaticstyleprivate.h"
 
 struct _GtkCssNodeStyleCache {
@@ -78,6 +79,18 @@ may_be_stored_in_cache (GtkCssStyle *style)
 {
   GtkCssChange change;
 
+  /* If you run your application with
+   *   GTK_DEBUG=no-css-cache
+   * no caching will happen. This is slow (in particular
+   * when animating), but useful for figuring out bugs.
+   *
+   * We achieve that by disallowing any inserts into caches here.
+   */
+#ifdef G_ENABLE_DEBUG
+  if (GTK_DEBUG_CHECK (NO_CSS_CACHE))
+    return FALSE;
+#endif
+
   if (!GTK_IS_CSS_STATIC_STYLE (style))
     return FALSE;