I can speak from personal experience about the dark curly hair and bee  
stings.  When I still had hair on top of my head, it was dark and curly,  and I 
had to keep it covered.  Bees would dive in to it, get stuck, panic,  and 
let loose.
 
Now that there's little on top and the remaining is white, with most of the 
 remaining migrated south to under my nose and chin, very seldom do bees go 
for  the hair.
 
But, my prescription glasses automatically turn dark in the sun - and  
if/when I get a hit to the head, its almost always around the edge of the  
glasses.
 
I'm a firm believer in smoke - our bee counters have shown that the calming 
 effect may last to some degree for hours.  Give me a choice of a suit/veil 
 or smoke, I'll take the smoke.  I do NOT like working bees without smoke - 
 they get progressively meaner, every time you work them - and with some of 
our  research, we're in the colonies weekly.
 
Since I travel a lot and seldom wear a suit, I'm a fan of the hood attached 
 to the over-the-shoulder mesh that Sheriff sells - idea is you can use it 
with  any suit, jacket.  I can fold it in to my luggage, and its easy to 
just  wear it, flip the hood back, but if I run in to bees that are mean, I can 
flip  it up.
 
My wife watches the Good Will, picks up white or light colored shirts and  
jackets.  Light colored jeans, or light colored cargo pants; western boots  
to protect the ankles without having to tie down the cuffs, a light colored  
shirt, and when needed the mesh veil - and I'll do just about anything 
other  than shaking packages - when I'll put on a jacket with veil.
 
FYI, Scott, my main bee manager works at calming bees, and it seems to  
work.  He'll isolate a mean colony, work it for a while until it 'calms'  down, 
then moves it back to the main yard - all without changing the  queen.
 
Jerry
 
 

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