What protective equipment should a beginning beekeeper consider purchasing?
The extent of your protective equipment depends entirely on your personal situation. Of course, the more sensitive or allergic you are to insect stings or other envenomation, the more protection you should have. Do not allow anyone to convince you otherwise. Similarly, if you keep bees in areas with populations of Africanized honey bees, you should have more protection. Additionally, your use of protective equipment also depends on your ability to withstand repeated stings without making the situation even worse. For example, if you are stung while moving a hive box, will that sting result in you dropping that box, which will result in a whole lot more stings? Donning protective equipment is not a decision that can be made in those moments. I would encourage new beekeepers to wear more protection than they think they need.
The absolute minimum for a new beekeeper is a veil. Defensive bees aim for your head. Even when you have been stung countless times and no longer have any reaction to bee stings, it always hurts when you are stung on the eyelid or lip. Trust me. Veils only work if the mesh screen is away from your skin. Some veil styles do not stick out very far from your face and require the use of a hat with a brim underneath. The most common piece of protective equipment is a bee jacket, which incorporates the veil into a thick jacket.
One of the most frequently overlooked gaps in protection is the ankles. If your protection does not involve a full bee suit with pants included or your thick pants are not tucked into your boots, you will eventually be stung on the ankles or up your legs. Trust me. The solution is elastic on the cuffs of pants or taping the ends of your pants to your shoes.
Aside from increased cost, the downsides to protective equipment are heat retention and movement restriction. The loss of dexterity is the main reason why gloves are the most debated piece of protective equipment. You simply cannot be as dexterous while wearing thick leather gloves. To some extent, this is alleviated with the use of a frame grabber but not entirely. An elegant solution to this is the use of nitrile gloves. Bees do not tend to sting nitrile and you retain dexterity. For new beekeepers, I recommend that you begin by wearing nitrile gloves.