Round, fencing or square: how to choose a bee veil

A veil has one job: hold mesh away from your face and keep it there while you move. The three common shapes do it differently, and each one is easiest to defeat in its own particular way.

The round veil

A stiff brimmed crown with mesh hanging from it, held out at the shoulders by the brim's diameter.

It gives the most space in front of your face of the three, which is why it is the traditional choice for long inspections and for anyone who dislikes anything close to their eyes. The solid crown shades your head, which matters in open sun.

Its weakness is width. The brim catches on branches and on hive lids, and in a confined apiary you spend the day being nudged by your own veil. It also moves independently of your head — turn quickly and the mesh swings before it follows you.

The fencing veil

A collar of stiffened mesh that stands up around the whole head, zipped to the suit, with no separate brim.

This is the shape most people settle on. It moves with you rather than after you, it has no brim to catch on anything, and because the mesh surrounds your head completely, air crosses it from whichever direction the breeze is coming from. On a hot day it is usually the coolest of the three.

Its weakness is the front. The mesh is closest to your face at eye level, so a fencing veil that has lost its stiffness — from being packed flat, or from age — starts touching your nose when you look down. That is the position you inspect in, so it matters more than it sounds.

The square veil

A folding four-panel veil, flat when packed, held square by its own seams when worn.

It packs smaller than either of the others and costs least. For a visitor's spare, or a veil kept in a car, that is a real advantage.

Its weakness is that it sits closest to the face of the three and depends entirely on the panels staying square. Once the fabric softens they do not, and the veil begins to lean inwards. It is the shape most likely to touch skin, and the one to be most careful with second-hand.

Looking down is the test

You spend an inspection with your head tilted forward over an open box. Every veil is comfortable standing upright; the differences appear at that angle.

Before buying, if you can, put the veil on and look at your own feet. If the mesh touches your nose or your forehead in that position, it will touch it for the whole inspection. A fencing veil should hold a visible gap; a round veil should hold more; a square veil is the one to check hardest.

Glasses change the answer

Spectacle frames push the mesh outward at the temples and inward across the bridge of the nose. With a round or fencing veil there is enough clearance that this does not matter. With a square veil it frequently does, and the point of contact is directly beside your eye.

If you wear glasses, treat the extra clearance as the deciding factor rather than a preference.

What to check on any of them

• The zip's path. It runs around a curve. Set by hand it runs smoothly; run by machine it tends to bind, and a veil zip you cannot close fully is not a closed veil.
• Mesh colour. Black mesh in front of the eyes and pale mesh elsewhere is not decoration — dark mesh scatters less light towards you, so you see through it far better in sun.
• How it stores. Every one of these depends on stiffness. Folding a veil flat under other kit is how a good one becomes a veil that rests on your face.

The short version

Fencing for most people, most of the time. Round if you want maximum space in front of your face and work somewhere open. Square as a spare. And whichever you choose, judge it with your chin on your chest, not standing straight.