void loop() {
    if(Serial.available()) {
        if(Serial.read().first(8) == "0xABCDEF") {
            //0xABCDEF is basically my indicator saying "this is for individual LEDs"
            //Serial.read() can now be something like 0xABCDEF FF0000 00FF00 0000FF FFFFFF 000000
            char* colors[] = Serial.read().split(" ");
            colorLED(colors);

        }
    }
}

void colorLED(colors) {
    for(i = 1; i < colors.length; i++) {
        strip.SetPixelColor(i, color[i]);
    }
}

//hexColor can be "FF0000"
int number = (int)strtol(&hexColor[0], NULL, 16);

int r = number >> 16;
int g = number >> 8 & 0xFF;
int b = number & 0xFF;