diff --git a/trackpy/plots.py b/trackpy/plots.py
index 685e0aa5..c2e5b6aa 100644
--- a/trackpy/plots.py
+++ b/trackpy/plots.py
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ def scatter(centroids, mpp=None, cmap=None, ax=None, pos_columns=None,
         if mpl.rcParams['text.usetex']:
             _set_labels(ax, r'{} [\textmu m]', pos_columns)
         else:
-            _set_labels(ax, r'{} [\xb5m]', pos_columns)
+            _set_labels(ax, '{} [\xb5m]', pos_columns)
 
     _plot(ax, centroids, pos_columns, **_plot_style)
     return invert_yaxis(ax)
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ def plot_traj(traj, colorby='particle', mpp=None, label=False,
         if mpl.rcParams['text.usetex']:
             _set_labels(ax, r'{} [\textmu m]', pos_columns)
         else:
-            _set_labels(ax, r'{} [\xb5m]', pos_columns)
+            _set_labels(ax, '{} [\xb5m]', pos_columns)
     # Background image
     if superimpose is not None:
         ax.imshow(superimpose, cmap=plt.cm.gray,