Depends how long it is.
If your looking to be a longhair (think sholder length) then the awkward stage lasts about 16 months, maybe more for people with more curley hair.
Dureing this stage there isnt much you can do to make it look neat, it will allways be rather messy looking and hard to manage.
However, what you use is up to you.
Remember that gels, moose, sprays & straightners all damage your hair in the long term, might look good for the day, but your hair will not look healthy later on.
Wearing a hat can obviously help things.
One suggestion I used when my hair was shorter was after a shower stick a beanie on your wet hair and allow it all to dry.
This obviously keeps your hair down more and it drys this way, keeping it much neater, but you cant really use this as it gets longer, unless you have a balaclava I guess but that would be bloody wierd.
Combing it reguarly also helps.
It just depends how far your going.