When washing my bee suits I have never used bleach.
If you use bleach why ?
If you don't Why?
I have some suites that are black as the Ace of Spades surly a little bleach would be beneficial.
You can I suppose, but the bees don't much care what your bee suit looks like. The primary reason to wash it is to get the alarm pheromone off. that and the stale smoke.
Your bigger concern should be NOT damaging the screen of the hood.
My suits aren't white, so I don't bleach mine, but even if they were white I doubt I would. Bleach is very hard on fabric and to prolong the life of the suits I just wash them in the washer. The only reason I'd use bleach is if I felt the need to disinfect a suit for some reason. My veils are separate from my suits, so I soak and handwash them in Oxyclean to keep them nice and white. If I wanted to whiten up a suit, I'd try Oxyclean before bleach.
My wife bleached 5 of mine. I bought 5 new jackets. The hoods crumbled in my hands when they came out of the bleach water.
I use either bleach or Spray9 in the washer for bee clothing. Never ever regular laundry soap.
Use those to remove sting pheromones, squashed pathogens, and gnarly BO. Purpose certainly is not to get the clothing white and sparkling clean ...
Um, I like the way mine smells. Smells like beehive.
I use 5% bleach 95% water sprayed on a sting spot if I get one.
Wash it now & then, Fragrance-free soap always. Veil/hood unzipped (wash by hand). Hang in the shower to dry. It's lasting years.
Thanks to everyone I appreciate the info.