diff --git a/docs/docs/components/select.md b/docs/docs/components/select.md
index 0681293e8..1eb5e4c33 100644
--- a/docs/docs/components/select.md
+++ b/docs/docs/components/select.md
@@ -299,4 +299,16 @@ Remember that custom tags are rendered in a shadow root. To style them, you can
 
 :::warning
 Be sure you trust the content you are outputting! Passing unsanitized user input to `getTag()` can result in XSS vulnerabilities.
-:::
\ No newline at end of file
+:::
+
+## Lazy loading options
+
+Lazy loading options is very hard to get right. `<wa-select>` largely follows how a native `<select>` works.
+
+Here are the following conditions:
+
+- If a `<wa-select>` is created without any options, but is given a `value` attribute, its `value` will be `""`, and then when options are added, if any of the options have a value equal to the `<wa-select>` value, the value of the `<wa-select>` will be that of the option.
+
+- If a `<wa-select>` with an initial value has multiple values, but only some of the options are present, it will only respect the loaded options, and if a selected option is loaded in later, *AND* the value of the select has not changed via user interaction, it will add the selected option.
+
+This can be hard to conceptualize, so heres a fairly large example showing how lazy loaded options work with `<wa-select>`
diff --git a/src/components/select/select.test.ts b/src/components/select/select.test.ts
index 8e50f6d28..92ad8f0c4 100644
--- a/src/components/select/select.test.ts
+++ b/src/components/select/select.test.ts
@@ -614,6 +614,88 @@ describe('<wa-select>', () => {
 
         expect(tag.hasAttribute('pill')).to.be.true;
       });
+
+      describe.only("With lazily loaded options", () => {
+        describe("With no existing options", () => {
+          it("Should wait to select the option when the option exists for multiple select", async () => {
+            const form = await fixture<HTMLFormElement>(html`<form><wa-select value="option-1"></wa-select></form>`)
+            const el = form.querySelector<WaSelect>("wa-select")!
+
+            expect(el.value).to.equal("")
+
+            const option = document.createElement("wa-option")
+            option.value = "option-1"
+            option.innerText = "Option 1"
+            el.append(option)
+
+            await el.updateComplete
+            expect(el.value).to.equal("option-1")
+          })
+
+          it("Should wait to select the option when the option exists for multiple select", async () => {
+            const form = await fixture<HTMLFormElement>(html`<form><wa-select value="option-1" multiple></wa-select></form>`)
+
+            const el = form.querySelector<WaSelect>("wa-select")!
+            expect(el.value).to.equal("")
+
+            const option = document.createElement("wa-option")
+            option.value = "option-1"
+            option.innerText = "Option 1"
+            el.append(option)
+
+            await el.updateComplete
+            expect(el.value).to.equal(["option-1"])
+          })
+        })
+
+        describe("With existing options", () => {
+          it("Should not select the option if options already exist for single select", async () => {
+            const form = await fixture<HTMLFormElement>(html`
+              <form>
+                <wa-select value="option-1">
+                  <wa-option value="bar">Bar</wa-option>
+                  <wa-option value="baz">Baz</wa-option>
+                </wa-select>
+              </form>`
+            )
+
+            const el = form.querySelector<WaSelect>("wa-select")!
+            expect(el.value).to.equal("")
+
+            const option = document.createElement("wa-option")
+            option.value = "option-1"
+            option.innerText = "Option 1"
+            el.append(option)
+
+            await aTimeout(10)
+            await el.updateComplete
+            expect(el.value).to.equal("option-1")
+          })
+
+          it("Should not select the option if options already exists for multiple select", async () => {
+            const form = await fixture<HTMLFormElement>(html`
+              <form>
+                <wa-select value="option-1" multiple>
+                  <wa-option value="bar">Bar</wa-option>
+                  <wa-option value="baz">Baz</wa-option>
+                </wa-select>
+              </form>`
+            )
+
+            const el = form.querySelector<WaSelect>("wa-select")!
+            expect(el.value).to.equal("")
+
+            const option = document.createElement("wa-option")
+            option.value = "option-1"
+            option.innerText = "Option 1"
+            el.append(option)
+
+            await aTimeout(10)
+            await el.updateComplete
+            expect(el.value).to.equal([""])
+          })
+        })
+      })
     });
   }
 });
diff --git a/src/components/select/select.ts b/src/components/select/select.ts
index bf1bee3c1..1321911f9 100644
--- a/src/components/select/select.ts
+++ b/src/components/select/select.ts
@@ -183,11 +183,6 @@ export default class WaSelect extends WebAwesomeFormAssociatedElement {
 
   @property({ attribute: false })
   set value(val: string | string[] | null) {
-    if (this._value === val) {
-      return;
-    }
-
-    this.valueHasChanged = true;
     this._value = val;
   }
 
@@ -290,11 +285,6 @@ export default class WaSelect extends WebAwesomeFormAssociatedElement {
   connectedCallback() {
     super.connectedCallback();
 
-    this.updateComplete.then(() => {
-      if (!this.hasInteracted) {
-        this.value = this.defaultValue;
-      }
-    });
     // Because this is a form control, it shouldn't be opened initially
     this.open = false;
   }
@@ -545,6 +535,7 @@ export default class WaSelect extends WebAwesomeFormAssociatedElement {
     const oldValue = this.value;
 
     if (option && !option.disabled) {
+      this.valueHasChanged = true
       if (this.multiple) {
         this.toggleOptionSelection(option);
       } else {
@@ -570,20 +561,21 @@ export default class WaSelect extends WebAwesomeFormAssociatedElement {
   }
 
   private handleDefaultSlotChange() {
+    if (!customElements.get("wa-option")) {
+      customElements.whenDefined('wa-option').then(() => this.handleDefaultSlotChange());
+      return
+    }
+
     const allOptions = this.getAllOptions();
-    const value = Array.isArray(this.value) ? this.value : [this.value];
+    const val = this.valueHasChanged ? this.value : this.defaultValue
+    const value = Array.isArray(val) ? val : [val];
     const values: string[] = [];
 
     // Check for duplicate values in menu items
-    if (customElements.get('wa-option')) {
-      allOptions.forEach(option => values.push(option.value));
+    allOptions.forEach(option => values.push(option.value));
 
-      // Select only the options that match the new value
-      this.setSelectedOptions(allOptions.filter(el => value.includes(el.value)));
-    } else {
-      // Rerun this handler when `<wa-option>` is registered
-      customElements.whenDefined('wa-option').then(() => this.handleDefaultSlotChange());
-    }
+    // Select only the options that match the new value
+    this.setSelectedOptions(allOptions.filter(el => value.includes(el.value)));
   }
 
   private handleTagRemove(event: WaRemoveEvent, option: WaOption) {
@@ -661,13 +653,10 @@ export default class WaSelect extends WebAwesomeFormAssociatedElement {
   // This method must be called whenever the selection changes. It will update the selected options cache, the current
   // value, and the display value
   private selectionChanged() {
-    // if (!customElements.get('wa-option')) {
-    //   customElements.whenDefined('wa-option').then(() => this.selectionChanged());
-    //   return;
-    // }
+    const options = this.getAllOptions()
 
     // Update selected options cache
-    this.selectedOptions = this.getAllOptions().filter(el => el.selected);
+    this.selectedOptions = options.filter(el => el.selected);
 
     // Update the value and display label
     if (this.multiple) {
@@ -680,8 +669,9 @@ export default class WaSelect extends WebAwesomeFormAssociatedElement {
         this.displayLabel = this.localize.term('numOptionsSelected', this.selectedOptions.length);
       }
     } else {
-      this.value = this.selectedOptions[0]?.value ?? '';
-      this.displayLabel = this.selectedOptions[0]?.getTextLabel?.() ?? '';
+      const selectedOption = this.selectedOptions[0]
+      this.value = selectedOption?.value ?? '';
+      this.displayLabel = selectedOption?.getTextLabel?.() ?? '';
     }
 
     // Update validity