A strain reversal applied for both under hot and cold workings produces a microstructural transient which manifests in different ways and at different scales. The evolution of the dislocation network during strain reversal is the result of the competition between two mechanisms. The first mechanism corresponds to the partial untangling and recovery of previously created dislocation network and the second one is associated to the build-up compatible with the current deformation condition. This study proposes a phenomenological formulation based on an effective equivalent strain concept to describe, in a simple way, the several experimental manifestations of the microstructural transient at grain and intragranular scales and its effect on the static recrystallisation kinetics.