diff --git a/src/starfile/parser.py b/src/starfile/parser.py
index 0febed0..6b905c1 100644
--- a/src/starfile/parser.py
+++ b/src/starfile/parser.py
@@ -116,9 +116,10 @@ def _parse_loop_block(self) -> pd.DataFrame:
             loop_data += '\n'
 
         # put string data into a dataframe
-        if loop_data == '\n':
+        if loop_data.startswith('\n'):
             n_cols = len(loop_column_names)
             df = pd.DataFrame(np.zeros(shape=(0, n_cols)))
+            df.columns = loop_column_names
         else:
             column_name_to_index = {col: idx for idx, col in enumerate(loop_column_names)}
             df = pd.read_csv(