diff --git a/crates/polars-ops/src/chunked_array/strings/namespace.rs b/crates/polars-ops/src/chunked_array/strings/namespace.rs
index e8e08906b84d..ac3842f0c2e5 100644
--- a/crates/polars-ops/src/chunked_array/strings/namespace.rs
+++ b/crates/polars-ops/src/chunked_array/strings/namespace.rs
@@ -418,18 +418,31 @@ pub trait Utf8NameSpaceImpl: AsUtf8 {
     /// Return the first n characters
     fn str_head(&self, n: i64) -> PolarsResult<Utf8Chunked> {
         let ca = self.as_utf8();
-        
+
         // if n is negative, we return all but the last abs(n) characters
         let chunks = if n < 0 {
-            let n = n.abs() as u64;
-            ca
-            .downcast_iter()
-            .map(|c| substring(c, 0, &Some(c.len() as u64 - n)))
-            .collect::<arrow::error::Result<_>>()?
+            let abs_n = n.abs() as u64;
+            ca.downcast_iter()
+                .map(|c| {
+                    // a negative n requires that we collect a different substring length
+                    // for each item.
+                    polars_arrow::export::arrow::array::Utf8Array::from_iter_values(c.iter().map(
+                        |s| {
+                            match s {
+                                Some(s) => {
+                                    // saturating_sub prevents length < 0
+                                    let s_len = (s.len() as u64).saturating_sub(abs_n);
+                                    Some(&s[0..s_len])
+                                }
+                                None => s,
+                            }
+                        },
+                    ))
+                })
+                .collect::<arrow::error::Result<_>>()?
         } else {
             let n = n as u64;
-            ca
-                .downcast_iter()
+            ca.downcast_iter()
                 .map(|c| substring(c, 0, &Some(n as u64)))
                 .collect::<arrow::error::Result<_>>()?
         };
diff --git a/py-polars/debug/launch.py b/py-polars/debug/launch.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..cd1ddba9ec3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/py-polars/debug/launch.py
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+import os
+import re
+import sys
+import time
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+def launch_debugging() -> None:
+    """
+    Debug Rust files via Python.
+
+    Determine the pID for the current debugging session, attach the Rust LLDB launcher,
+    and execute the originally-requested script.
+    """
+    if len(sys.argv) == 1:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            "launch.py is not meant to be executed directly; please use the `Python: "
+            "Debug Rust` debugging configuration to run a python script that uses the "
+            "polars library."
+        )
+
+    # get the current process ID
+    pID = os.getpid()
+
+    # print to the console to allow the "Rust LLDB" routine to pick up on the signal
+    launch_file = Path(__file__).parents[2] / ".vscode/launch.json"
+    if not launch_file.exists():
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Cannot locate {launch_file}")
+    with launch_file.open("r") as f:
+        launch_info = f.read()
+
+    # overwrite the pid found in launch.config with the pid for the current process
+    # match initial the "Rust LLDB" definition with the pid immediately after
+    pattern = re.compile('("Rust LLDB",\\s*"pid":\\s*")\\d+(")')
+    found = pattern.search(launch_info)
+    if not found:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            "Cannot locate pid definition in launch.json for Rust LLDB configuration. "
+            "Please follow the instructions in CONTRIBUTING.md for creating the "
+            "launch configuration."
+        )
+
+    launch_info_with_new_pid = pattern.sub(rf"\g<1>{pID}\g<2>", launch_info)
+    with launch_file.open("w") as f:
+        f.write(launch_info_with_new_pid)
+
+    # print pID to the debug console. This auto-triggers the Rust LLDB configurations.
+    print(f"pID = {pID}")
+
+    # give the LLDB time to connect. We may have to play with this setting.
+    time.sleep(1)
+
+    # run the originally requested file
+    # update sys.argv so that when exec() is called, it's populated with the requested
+    # script name in sys.argv[0], and the remaining args after
+    sys.argv.pop(0)
+    with Path(sys.argv[0]).open() as fh:
+        script_contents = fh.read()
+
+    # path to the script to be executed
+    fh = Path(sys.argv[0])
+    exec(compile(script_contents, fh, mode="exec"), {"__name__": "__main__"})
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    launch_debugging()