Relating to the behaviour of bees and protective clothing.
My attitude is that you dress as you wish and in a way that makes you
feel secure.
Experience will show that certain items are required and others can be
got rid of - this comes about from an increased ability to handle bees
quicker when necessary and also being able to read what is happening in
the hive before this develop to a level where circumstances become
difficult to control.

The question of how the general public see beekeeping enters the
equation after a while. Being dressed up in a way to repel a full
frontal attack from thousands of bees when it is not really necessary
does not inspire great confidence from Mr. Average.

Evenso, our bees (due to multiple reasons) cannot be manipulated without
a veil for long (two or three minutes) unless you don't mind a dozen up
the nose! - traditional French black bees that work well on the nectar
flows that present themselves in our area. So, I can be found with
litres of sweat in wellies harvesting after Rape (Canola), and in
T-shirt with slippers and shorts when adding supers.

It was very strange for me to work bees in Nova Scotia this spring and
not need a veil or gloves when splitting hives - but there was
definitely no need - apart from the odd one that tried to investigate
the soft palate via the nasal passage.

Peter