diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bd64635..d29a715 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+
+- New `decode_raw` static methods to `Header`
+
 ## [0.3.5] - 2024-05-22
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/crates/rlp/src/header.rs b/crates/rlp/src/header.rs
index 4938ad3..db62878 100644
--- a/crates/rlp/src/header.rs
+++ b/crates/rlp/src/header.rs
@@ -89,11 +89,7 @@ impl Header {
         }
 
         // SAFETY: this is already checked in `decode`
-        if buf.remaining() < payload_length {
-            unsafe { unreachable_unchecked() }
-        }
-        let bytes = unsafe { buf.get_unchecked(..payload_length) };
-        buf.advance(payload_length);
+        let bytes = unsafe { advance_unchecked(buf, payload_length) };
         Ok(bytes)
     }
 
@@ -108,6 +104,40 @@ impl Header {
         core::str::from_utf8(bytes).map_err(|_| Error::Custom("invalid string"))
     }
 
+    /// Extracts the next payload from the given buffer, advancing it.
+    ///
+    /// # Errors
+    ///
+    /// Returns an error if the buffer is too short, the header is invalid or one of the headers one
+    /// level deeper is invalid.
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn decode_raw<'a>(buf: &mut &'a [u8]) -> Result<PayloadView<'a>> {
+        let Self { list, payload_length } = Self::decode(buf)?;
+        // SAFETY: this is already checked in `decode`
+        let mut payload = unsafe { advance_unchecked(buf, payload_length) };
+
+        if !list {
+            return Ok(PayloadView::String(payload));
+        }
+
+        let mut items = alloc::vec::Vec::new();
+        while !payload.is_empty() {
+            // decode the next header without advancing in the payload
+            let Self { payload_length, .. } = Self::decode(&mut &payload[..])?;
+            // the length of the RLP encoding is the length of the header plus its payload length
+            // if payload length is 1 and the first byte is in [0x00, 0x7F], then there is no header
+            let rlp_length = if payload_length == 1 && payload[0] <= 0x7F {
+                1
+            } else {
+                payload_length + crate::length_of_length(payload_length)
+            };
+            items.push(&payload[..rlp_length]);
+            payload.advance(rlp_length);
+        }
+
+        return Ok(PayloadView::List(items));
+    }
+
     /// Encodes the header into the `out` buffer.
     #[inline]
     pub fn encode(&self, out: &mut dyn BufMut) {
@@ -130,6 +160,12 @@ impl Header {
     }
 }
 
+/// Structured representation of an RLP payload.
+pub enum PayloadView<'a> {
+    String(&'a [u8]),
+    List(alloc::vec::Vec<&'a [u8]>),
+}
+
 /// Same as `buf.first().ok_or(Error::InputTooShort)`.
 #[inline(always)]
 fn get_next_byte(buf: &[u8]) -> Result<u8> {
@@ -139,3 +175,71 @@ fn get_next_byte(buf: &[u8]) -> Result<u8> {
     // SAFETY: length checked above
     Ok(*unsafe { buf.get_unchecked(0) })
 }
+
+/// Same as `let (bytes, rest) = buf.split_at(cnt); *buf = rest; bytes`.
+#[inline(always)]
+unsafe fn advance_unchecked<'a>(buf: &mut &'a [u8], cnt: usize) -> &'a [u8] {
+    if buf.remaining() < cnt {
+        unreachable_unchecked()
+    }
+    let bytes = &buf[..cnt];
+    buf.advance(cnt);
+    bytes
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+    use crate::Encodable;
+    use alloc::vec::Vec;
+    use core::fmt::Debug;
+
+    fn check_decode_raw_list<T: Encodable + Debug>(input: Vec<T>) {
+        let encoded = crate::encode(&input);
+        let expected: Vec<_> = input.iter().map(crate::encode).collect();
+        let mut buf = encoded.as_slice();
+        assert!(
+            matches!(Header::decode_raw(&mut buf), Ok(PayloadView::List(v)) if v == expected),
+            "input: {:?}, expected list: {:?}",
+            input,
+            expected
+        );
+        assert!(buf.is_empty(), "buffer was not advanced");
+    }
+
+    fn check_decode_raw_string(input: &str) {
+        let encoded = crate::encode(input);
+        let expected = Header::decode_bytes(&mut &encoded[..], false).unwrap();
+        let mut buf = encoded.as_slice();
+        assert!(
+            matches!(Header::decode_raw(&mut buf), Ok(PayloadView::String(v)) if v == expected),
+            "input: {}, expected string: {:?}",
+            input,
+            expected
+        );
+        assert!(buf.is_empty(), "buffer was not advanced");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn decode_raw() {
+        // empty list
+        check_decode_raw_list(Vec::<u64>::new());
+        // list of an empty RLP list
+        check_decode_raw_list(vec![Vec::<u64>::new()]);
+        // list of an empty RLP string
+        check_decode_raw_list(vec![""]);
+        // list of two RLP strings
+        check_decode_raw_list(vec![0xBBCCB5_u64, 0xFFC0B5_u64]);
+        // list of three RLP lists of various lengths
+        check_decode_raw_list(vec![vec![0u64], vec![1u64, 2u64], vec![3u64, 4u64, 5u64]]);
+        // list of four empty RLP strings
+        check_decode_raw_list(vec![0u64; 4]);
+        // list of all one-byte strings, some will have an RLP header and some won't
+        check_decode_raw_list((0u64..0xFF).collect());
+
+        // strings of various lengths
+        check_decode_raw_string("");
+        check_decode_raw_string(" ");
+        check_decode_raw_string("test1234");
+    }
+}