In the Canon EOS Rebel line-up, you'll notice some models have the "i" suffix in the model number (e.g. T5i) and some models don't (e.g. T5).
The models with the "i" suffix denote the camera bodies that were at the high end of the Rebel line in the year they were released. The models without the "i" suffix were at the low-end of line in the year they were released.
As such, the "i" suffix models will have more features. The non-"i" models were specifically designed with affordability in mind.
The two exceptions to this are the T6s - which is a bit nicer than the T6i (both were released at the same time and the T6s starts to cross the line into the mid-range camera bodies) and the SL1.
The SL1 was released at the same time as the Canon T5i and it has features of the higher-end Rebel bodies... but it's main purpose was to provide a true APS-C DSLR camera body (same size sensor as every other Canon EOS Rebel body) but have the most compact camera body in the line. It was not designed to be the most affordable like the T5.
As I recall... the T5 doesn't have a microphone port (if you wanted to record video but use an external mic for better audio then you can get with the built-in condensor mic. It's pop-up flash can't be used as a "master" to remote trigger slave flashes (a shoe-mounted trigger would be required.) It also doesn't have the IR sensor on the front of the body so that it can be remotely triggered via a Canon RC-6 remote. It doesn't have "spot" metering (it has "evaluative", "center-weighted", and "partial" but not "spot"). It's continuous burst speed is 3 frames per second.
In contrast... the SL1 has all of those missing things and shoots at 4 frames per second. The SL1 also has Canon's CMOS AF feature which allows faster focusing when using live-view or video (the T5 can focus in live-view or video modes... just not as fast and it doesn't support continuous auto-focus while shooting vidoe.)
But would you miss those features? You're probably not planning to shoot in continuous burst mode for what you want to do so the continuous burst speed doesn't matter. You're unlikely to need "spot" metering. If you're also probably not likely to use the video features.
As far as the sensor goes... both have the same size sensor, same resolution, but the SL1 will let you set one additional stop of ISO sensitivity.
This means the SL1 is technically the "better" camera. If you have large hands, you may not like the body size and find it to be a bit cramped. If you have small hands, you may love the body size.
You may also want to pick up an EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens (it'll be much better than the kit lens for the type of shots you want and also works much better in low light -- but I wouldn't shoot it at f/1.8 for a hairstyle portfolio as the depth of field will likely be too narrow to get everything in focus. Keeping things up around f/2.8 and for very close shots maybe even f/4. But the kit lens is a variable f/3.5-5.6 and at the long end (the focal length you want to use) it'll be limited to f/5.6. The 50mm f/1.8 STM lens can collect twice as much light at f/4, four times as much light at f/2.8, EIGHT times as much light at f/2, and about 10x more light at f/1.8. So that's quite a difference. The EF 50mm f/1.8 STM is only $110 (the best bargain in the entire lens line-up).
If budget allows, I know photographers that prefer to use macro lenses to shoot makeup, fashion, hair, etc. because macro lenses don't have to be used just for extreme closeups, but macro lenses tend to have the ability to resolve finer detail than a typical lens. That would imply the EF-6 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM (about $450 I think) for the SL1 or T5 body.
I used to own the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM and was always amazed by it's performance. I also own the EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM which costs a little over twice the price -- and was always amazed at how well the detail of the 60mm macro rivaled that of the much more expensive 100mm "L" series macro ("L" series lenses are Canon's top-end glass.)
Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da
