diff --git a/head.go b/head.go
index 087e64d1b..b14c056f1 100644
--- a/head.go
+++ b/head.go
@@ -576,6 +576,12 @@ func (h *Head) Truncate(mint int64) (err error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "get segment range")
 	}
+	// Start a new segment, so low ingestion volume TSDB don't have more WAL than
+	// needed.
+	err = h.wal.NextSegment()
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "next segment")
+	}
 	last-- // Never consider last segment for checkpoint.
 	if last < 0 {
 		return nil // no segments yet.
diff --git a/head_test.go b/head_test.go
index 8f5774bfc..dbe6fecd5 100644
--- a/head_test.go
+++ b/head_test.go
@@ -1128,3 +1128,40 @@ func TestWalRepair(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 }
+
+func TestNewWalSegmentOnTruncate(t *testing.T) {
+	dir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "test_wal_segemnts")
+	testutil.Ok(t, err)
+	defer func() {
+		testutil.Ok(t, os.RemoveAll(dir))
+	}()
+	wlog, err := wal.NewSize(nil, nil, dir, 32768)
+	testutil.Ok(t, err)
+
+	h, err := NewHead(nil, nil, wlog, 1000)
+	testutil.Ok(t, err)
+	defer h.Close()
+	add := func(ts int64) {
+		app := h.Appender()
+		_, err := app.Add(labels.Labels{{"a", "b"}}, ts, 0)
+		testutil.Ok(t, err)
+		testutil.Ok(t, app.Commit())
+	}
+
+	add(0)
+	_, last, err := wlog.Segments()
+	testutil.Ok(t, err)
+	testutil.Equals(t, 0, last)
+
+	add(1)
+	testutil.Ok(t, h.Truncate(1))
+	_, last, err = wlog.Segments()
+	testutil.Ok(t, err)
+	testutil.Equals(t, 1, last)
+
+	add(2)
+	testutil.Ok(t, h.Truncate(2))
+	_, last, err = wlog.Segments()
+	testutil.Ok(t, err)
+	testutil.Equals(t, 2, last)
+}
diff --git a/wal/wal.go b/wal/wal.go
index cb2e11ff9..f0e413f5c 100644
--- a/wal/wal.go
+++ b/wal/wal.go
@@ -393,6 +393,13 @@ func SegmentName(dir string, i int) string {
 	return filepath.Join(dir, fmt.Sprintf("%08d", i))
 }
 
+// NextSegment creates the next segment and closes the previous one.
+func (w *WAL) NextSegment() error {
+	w.mtx.Lock()
+	defer w.mtx.Unlock()
+	return w.nextSegment()
+}
+
 // nextSegment creates the next segment and closes the previous one.
 func (w *WAL) nextSegment() error {
 	// Only flush the current page if it actually holds data.