Yes that’s a great hack to make it work. Funny thing with the these ws281x pixels is some will work with 3.3 logic and some won’t. It depends on the circuitry it’s placed In, the material, if it’s a clone,l etc. the only sure way is to satisfy the logic minimums
Ive never had an issue with 3.3v logic. But then again ive always used 3.7V power supply lol