Beekeeping is really all right. Like anything else, there are tricks to the trade. Buy gentle bees (the different races of bees vary a great deal in temperament - but the Italians, the gentlest ones, don't make as much honey, so most of us wind up buying various proprietary hybrid bees). Go SLOW and don't bump things or make a lot of noise. Use LOTS of smoke (this was the Reverend's #1 piece of advice to new beekeepers.) Site your hives in the shade on the edge of a sunny open area with a clear hive approach. Bathe before you work 'em, and NEVER, EVER wear blue jeans, cologne, herbal shampoo, scented deodorant, etc. when you work your hives. For some reason bees HATE the smell of nice, new, dark blue jeans. They will sting the beejabbers out of you.
I have kept bees for about 20 years (the Reverend, who is no doubt helping St. Francis and St. Fiacre out with the bees, died in the 80s) and I can count the times I've been stung on two hands and one foot . . . for 20 years that's not bad.
And think of all that free, fresh, yummy honey! Gallons of it! (Well, it's mostly free. Beekeeping's like anything else, you wind up spending money on gadgets and neat stuff. But it's fun.)
Bees are funny. They won't bother you if you don't bother them, unless you're around the hive.
Some people they won't pay any attention to when you are near the hive. My older son and I have thick dark hair, and for some reason they want to sting our heads! So I always have to suit up.
My husband and other son have lighter hair, and the bees don't bother them.
Some kind of instinctive reaction to thick dark hair, I guess.