Protection

I wear big gloves and a helmet so I can work with my hands and my family will recognise me.

Gold.

Yeah, I agree, I expect to get the odd hit to the face, but don't see my family that often anymore so it's cool...

Anyway, I was thinking of paintball gear.

Paintball gear tends to frame your eyes a fair bit which is bad for your peripheral vision, but I'm not much of an expert. Most people seem to prefer cages to plastic, etc.